


when the end of the world came

by AlNiCa



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood, Drowning, Emphasis On Happy Ending, M/M, Outer Space, Witches, character doesn't stay dead
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-07
Updated: 2020-01-07
Packaged: 2021-02-27 16:07:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 11
Words: 25,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22149934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlNiCa/pseuds/AlNiCa
Summary: With the end of the world quickly becoming a reality rather than a bad dream, the Galaxy Garrison sends a group of space explorers on a mission as our last hope for survival. Shiro, Matt, and Commander Holt are tasked with finding a new planet for human life to survive on. No one could've predicted it'd lead to a life-changing adventure and a love that was written in the stars.
Relationships: Keith/Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 28
Kudos: 36
Collections: Sheith Big Bang 2019





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is my fic for the Sheith Big Bang 2019(/2020)! I'm really excited to finally share this with the world and want to give a big shoutout to [Sydney](https://twitter.com/shoutzwastaken) for being the best beta!!!
> 
> Art in fic created by the wonderful [Cookie](https://twitter.com/fantasywalking)

_ 10,000 years ago, soulmate magic was the heart of the Earth, a heart that allowed the entire planet to thrive for millions of years. While there were other sources of magical power, soulmate magic was a gift from Earth that caused the planet rotate, the wind to blow, the flowers to bloom, and for humans to find an eternity of love in one another.  _

_ Honerva, one of the most powerful sorceresses of her age, was rejected by her soulmate for using a dark magic forbidden by the ancestors to gain more power and seek leadership in her coven. Because she couldn’t have her soulmate, she decided no one else would. Zarkon, a dear childhood friend whose soulmate had rejected him as well, joined her in a ritual that had the power to remove everyone's marks from their skin, and in turn, all magic from the world.  _

_ The ritual and magic, now lost and forgotten to those on Earth, needed the sacrifice of a set of soulmates, their souls given in exchange for denying those who come next any and all magic.  _

_ Before the ritual was completed, and the fall of human civilization began, two covens merged and migrated to the closest planet: Mars. There, the Altean and Marmoran covens consecrated their fallen warriors, and in turn kept their magic and restored soulmates to their people. While Earth began to rot from the inside out, their power and empire grew strong and pure.  _

_ For too long Mars ignored its sister, allowing her to suffer as her inhabitants wandered the Earth alone, without guidance and finding no peace. Mars’s princess, after hearing a prophecy that could save the planet, fought hard to be sent on a mission to help find a way to reverse the magical expulsion and bring back harmony to the planet. She quickly realized that the humans were now too far removed from their magical roots and there was very little that could be done… but she met a man that she knew would share her mark should he have one.  _

_ After extending her mission under false pretenses, she held their baby in her arms, saw the little mark on his leg and knew that she was successful in a way no one could’ve thought possible, but in doing so she had cursed the person she loved most in the universe to a possible fate worse than death.  _

_ That baby, prophesied to save the planet and rejoin the inhabitants of Earth and Mars, was…  _


	2. Last day

“KEITH! Get up now dumbass or you’re going to miss breakfast for the third time this week!” 

He was still confused how his awful roommate was able to yell over his blaring alarm every morning, an alarm that he was desperately trying to ignore and fall back asleep. Every day at 5 AM he questioned every choice he’d ever made in life, including his wild haircut, his cropped red leather jacket, the knife tattoo he got on his calf while drunk, and his decision to join a military space exploration academy at age 16 instead of participating in normal teenage things like smoking weed and not doing his homework. 

Of course, the last regret was mostly because his mid puberty brain couldn’t handle the fact that he’d seen a human he actually found attractive for the first time in his life. And on top of it, he was _nice_ . And wanted to be his _friend_. 

He groaned into his pillow. Okay, maybe taking Shiro’s deal to come to this school for getting him out of juvie wasn’t a regret. 

Since his dad died he hadn’t had this much stability, this much access to basic necessities, or a friend that genuinely cared about him, even if he acted like an asshole to him sometimes. Shiro was a weird one - of that, he was certain. He’d never thought a 20 year old hotshot pilot that’d accomplished more than all the higher ups at the Garrison combined would be interested in helping a 16 year old delinquent he wasn’t related to or knew, but Shiro was determined to help him get out of the hole life threw him into the moment his dad’s casket was buried. 

Shiro was an amazing friend that Keith related to in a bunch of ways. An only child, who had also lost both of his parents, who had a lot going wrong for him at the worst time in his life, they connected instantly. Keith still laughs at the memories of Shiro’s friend’s making fun of him for taking ‘big steps into fatherhood’ at such a young age. 

Keith was just glad that no matter what, Shiro never treated him like a kid or patronized him. He just cared. He just listened. And, platonically, he just loved him. 

Years later, he was still a punk but mellowed out a bit due to being on the receiving end of Shiro’s glare every 5 seconds and being his best friend the rest of the time. 

While his life was still not great, though drastically improved since three years ago, today he was dreading significantly more than most days. Today was day zero, or rather, the last day Keith had to spend with Shiro before he took off towards Mars with their other friend Matt. 

Theoretically, he should be happy. Shiro’s been sick for a while and fought like hell to get on this mission, lost his partner in the process too, but realistically, he couldn’t help how shitty he felt thinking about the Shiro- and Matt-sized holes in his life he was going to have to endure for the next 2 years. 

After today, they would go into a mandatory quarantine to prepare them for 2 weeks, then they would take off with Matt’s dad on a desperate last-ditch effort for Earth to figure out a way to continue humanity's survival. 

Unfortunately, the planet had been in a sharp decline for thousands of years. 

He wished he could say that he remembered a childhood full of hiking along the Rockies, swimming in waterfalls, and camping out on soft grass - but he hasn’t seen grass in years and the last waterfall in the US dried up 20 years before he was born. 

Keith, and the rest of the state of Arizona, lived in one of the last habitable places in the US. The rest of the world wasn’t in much better shape. Most of South America was gone, Australia had been dead for centuries, and Europe was a giant pile of waste because of WWIV that was completely uninhabitable for human life. Parts of Canada, Eastern Africa, and Southeast Asia have been the last places to report thriving wildlife, for now at least. 

Leaving the planet scared the shit out of him. He wanted to travel the universe, but leaving? Forever? He couldn’t wrap his head around it. But that’s why Shiro was leaving. They needed a backup plan once the synthetic farms and water purifiers failed for good and the rest of the atmosphere dissipated. 

He wanted Shiro to succeed, truly. Not just for him, but for the rest of the planet. But he was being realistic. He knew Shiro and Matt would return empty-handed and humans would have to accept that they’d doomed themselves for good. That this was it and there was nothing else they could do to stop it.

Shit. Happy thoughts, Keith. He needed to be happy for Shiro today. 

Keith got up and dressed quickly, with plans to skip his classes and meet Shiro for breakfast. Shiro would be pissed, but there was no way he was missing the last day he had to spend with his best friend. 

Like his roommate so kindly yelled about, he was late to breakfast and got a very disappointed look from his advisor as he nodded a hello on his way to grab a tray. Keith had read the handbook; being on time to meals wasn’t actually mandatory, but it was an unspoken rule that had been enforced over generations of aspiring astro-explorers like him. 

His favorite oatmeal was already out, but Olivia (his favorite cafeteria worker) snuck him fresh pancakes from the back and some extra orange juice. It surprised a lot of his cohorts when he befriended the older woman since he refused to talk to any of them, but he always had a soft spot for elderly individuals. 

While trying to sit down next to Shiro he had to dodge a spitball from Matt, the mature adult about to take off on a mission to possibly save humanity as they know it. He rolled his eyes. 

“Morning.”

“Good morning sunshine, did your hairbrush go missing again?”

Keith grunted as he took a large bite of pancake. 

“We’re still going out today right?”

He looked over at Shiro, “Hell yeah we are, I already got everything packed in my room. Just got to run back and grab it and we’re good to go. Olivia made us sandwiches too.”

Matt whistled, “Olivia huh? I knew there was something special between the two of you.”

He threw his balled up napkin, “Shut up, you know I’m gay.”

Shiro laughed, “Believe us, we know, especially after the last time we went out and you got SUPER trashed and made out with..”

“SHUT IT. OR WE’RE NOT GOING OUT TODAY.”

Shiro laughed harder, Matt joining in this time. Keith rolled his eyes, shoved the rest of his pancakes into his mouth and got up, “Alright, while you two idiots calm down, I’m going to run back to my room to get my bag,” he poked Shiro in the cheek, “Be ready in 10.”

He got a joking salute in return, “Sir, yes sir.”

*

Hoverbike racing might’ve been a little corny, seeing as they did it all the time, but it was one of Shiro’s favorite things to do. He told Keith one time he’d never felt more alive and free than when he’s speeding through the desert at 90 mph. The man was going to be in a spaceship for the next two years, a little sand in his hair and wind whipping his cheeks red was just what he needed. 

They raced a couple of times through their favorite paths. Of course, they weren’t real paths, but the ground had been worn down enough by their shenanigans by now that they almost looked like they were. 

Keith let Shiro win the first couple of times, just wanting to see the pure excitement on his face, but really gave him a fight the last two races. 

They were currently neck and neck swirling around the canyons surrounding them, kicking up sand to throw the other off, heckling each other as much as possible as a distraction. 

Keith could see Shiro heading for one of the giant cliffs he likes to go speeding off, like an idiot. He looked up to see Shiro adjusting his hands, working to speed up for the jump. Keith slowed down, he knew he’d lose, but he wanted to take the opportunity to see his friend in his happy place one last time.

He curved his bike to a stop as Shiro took off, legs kicked out and screaming with joy at the top of his lungs. 

He was beautiful. Something Keith thought to himself almost every time he was with the man. It wasn’t just in Shiro’s looks or the way he carried himself but his soul. And as much as Keith shoved down his feelings, he couldn’t help feeling like their souls were made for each other whenever they were alone together. 

Seeing him like this, he really wished they were.

*

“If you could go back in time and visit anywhere, where would you go?”

“Hmm, Japan is still pretty intact, so probably some places in Europe. It fucking sucks there’s so much history buried under the destruction.” 

Keith hummed, “I would’ve loved to visit Greece.”

“Parthenon?”

“Yeah.”

Shiro held out his hand and Keith handed him another granola bar. They had stopped for lunch on one of their favorite cliffs that had a large overhang with plenty of shade. 

Once upon a time the desert they were looking out on was covered in an overgrown forest, now the Earth beneath them is dry and brittle. Neither of them really remember a time when the Earth wasn’t as it was, but Shiro had enough old books with pictures that Keith could try and imagine what it could’ve been like. He still enjoyed the view with the sun washing the world in a warm orange, but it was mostly because it blushed the tops of Shiro’s cheeks in a way that made him melt instantly.

“You’ve always been super interested in mythology, makes sense.”

He shrugged, “It’s just really interesting. Especially the stuff about soulmates.”

Shiro raised an eyebrow in question. 

“Well, I guess in Greek mythology people originally had four arms, four legs, and two heads, but Zeus split them all into two because he feared them. Now everyone has to wander the Earth in search of their soulmate.”

Shiro nodded his head as he listened, “I guess it’s true what they say then.”

Keith looked up, confused. 

“That Zeus is actually the worst.” 

Keith barked out a laugh, “Yeah, that’s basically all Greek myths summed up in one sentence.”

They continued eating for a little longer before Keith started packing all their extras and trash back into his bag. He stopped halfway when he felt eyes on him. Shiro was looking at him in a way he never had before. He looked...sad. He’d seen Shiro upset before, but it was usually underlined with anger. Keith couldn’t figure out what was causing the mournful look on his face. 

“You okay?”

He kept looking at him for a second, before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, “Yeah, I... I just.” Keith watched as Shiro’s eyebrows pinched together in an attempt to come up with the right words, “I think I pushed off how much I’m going to miss you for too long. It kind of hit me all at once,” he sighed, “I wish I had more time to spend with you.”

Keith gave him a sad smile in return and scooted closer to him, so their knees were touching. 

“I know. I’m going to miss you too. We’ve been friends for like, 4 years, but it feels like forever.”

Shiro leaned his head on his shoulder, so he wrapped his hand around his back in a small hug. He felt him sigh, “This is dumb and kind of unfair to ask, but you’ll be here when I get back, right?”

Keith felt a tear slide down his cheek and fall into Shiro’s hair. He whispered, “I’ll be the first face you see when you get back. I promise.” 

*

The shuttle launch itself wasn’t much to write home about. Keith had seen his fair share of them take off in his time while at the academy. He’s seen them built, he’s seen them crash, he’s been on a grand tour of the one that took off the day before. There wasn’t anything new. 

He also didn’t care to talk about it with the rest of his cohort. He wanted nothing more than to finish their group project about whether or not human colonization outside of the solar system would one day be a reality, not how many miles from Earth Shiro now was. 

Almost 20, his hormones were mostly under control and childhood temper was a thing of the past. He was able to control himself reasonably well nowadays, but it still didn’t mean he had the patience of a saint. He gave up trying to get his group to focus and told them he’d message later about meeting up to work on it another day as he headed out to his dorm. 

He had to pass by administrative offices on the way to the elevator out of the building. He never had issues walking through this hallway before, but he also had someone to see whenever he walked through. Shiro’s office was empty, his effects resting in storage until he came back, but it was still unlocked with his name on the door for now. 

Keith let himself in, locked the door, and sat in his favorite chair. Shiro had picked it out especially for him when he got his own office. He had said ‘I want to make sure you have somewhere comfortable to be when you come hang out with me here’. It was plenty comfortable for sitting, and the occasional nap. 

He tossed his bag on the floor and pulled out his phone. His wallpaper was a picture of the two of them out in the desert with Matt. Matt had a ridiculous sunburn, he and Shiro were pinching his burnt skin. He can remember that day clearly: it was Matt’s birthday, and one of Keith’s favorite memories of his friends. 

He sighed as he put on one of their shared playlists and placed his phone on Shiro’s former desk. It was about 19:00 on a Friday, there was a high probability that no one would bother him if he decided to stay awhile. 

Keith closed his eyes and eventually drifted off. He dreamt of his friends flying safely through space. Dreamt of the red sand on Mars. Dreamt of the discoveries they’d make. 

Dreamt of them coming home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Please remember to show some love to Cookie's amazing art on her [twitter](https://twitter.com/fantasywalking) ! 
> 
> If you need something tagged please feel free to let me know! 
> 
> Commenting can be hard and requires a lot of energy - emojis, emoticons, lil hearts - mean so much to me and are all 100% considered a valid comment that will bring joy to my smol gay heart, thank u
> 
> Come say hi!  
> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/AlNiCa_)  
> [Pillowfort](https://pillowfort.social/alnica)


	3. Landing

Shiro woke up to Matt ripping open the curtain covering his bunk.

“Shiro, I told you to set an alarm. We’ve got to start prepping to land.”

He groaned as he rolled over in his cot, murmuring that he’ll be up soon. 

After 228 days, they’ve finally made it to their destination. The first week of their trip, Shiro was in charge of navigation, while Matt and Sam closely monitored the ship. All was normal, all going to plan. The next six were spent in cryosleep. The technology for it was new, but it passed all testing and worked well for the team. Shiro woke up (vomiting) to just under 3 weeks until they were scheduled to land.

He should be more excited, bouncing out of his bed ready to take on the next adventure. 

But, he was scared. 

He’s made two other trips before, one to the International Space Station and one to the Moon. Both went fine, but both had much less risk involved. 

No one said so explicitly before the launch, but the three of them held the fate of humanity on their backs. All three billion humans left on Earth were running out of time. They needed a solution or they’d face extinction. 

Shiro brushed his teeth, quickly ate a protein bar, and got suited up. He made his way up to the cockpit. Matt and Commander Holt were already in the process of getting into their places for landing.

Once he moved closer to the cockpit and into his seat, he could get a better view of their destination. His eyes widened at the vision of Mars in front of them. For the past couple of weeks, they were slowly able to see the planet more and more, but this close up gave them a view that was mesmerizing. Sure, the Earth was probably more similar than ever now that the majority of the surface was dried up, but the beautiful red of Mars's surface made the planet much more captivating than the depressing variations of brown with a defiant sprinkle of green.

Shiro thought about what it would be like to race Keith over the rough surface of the planet. If they could even race the hoverbikes from back home here. He didn’t really get a chance to finish that thought due to Commander Holt announcing the start of their approach and landing protocol.

Shiro buckled up and started preparing the ship. Time started to blur together as he calmly called out his orders to the Holts and worried his fingers on the various switches on his dashboard. In time, he felt the gravity start to pull them in as he switched their orientation. 

From the corner of his eye he saw Matt start to sweat, nervousness showing on the verge of discovery, but everything was going smoothly thus far. They could do this.

They slowly descended to the planet's surface, the red of terrain becoming bolder the closer they got. Shiro called out to Commander Holt to kick out the landing gear when he felt it. 

One moment he had control and the next all the power went out of the ship. They’d prepared him for a lot of worst case scenarios - the _entire_ _fucking ship_ turning off wasn’t one of them.

He desperately flung his hands over all of the controls trying to reboot absolutely anything. 

But  _ nothing _ came on. 

Matt quickly unbuckled to climb down to the control room as his dad yelled for him to stay put. 

The only thing still giving him anything was the screen reading out how far they were from the surface. 

_ 300 meters.  
  
_

“Shiro. Shiro, we need to slow down,” He heard Commander Holt yell out.  
  


Shiro felt sweat drip down his neck while he tried to figure out anything to prevent them from crashing.   
  


_ 200 meters.  
  
_

Nothing.   
  


“Shiro we need to slow down _ now _ .”  
  


_ Nothing.   
  
_

**Nothing was working.  
  
**

“Com- _ shit _ -Commander Holt.”  
  


“Come on, Shiro. There’s got to be a way.”  
  


_100 meters._  
  


He looked down to see the surface quickly approaching. One last look at all his options, or lack thereof. He couldn’t even access their crash landing protocol.   
  


_50 meters_.  
  


“ _ Commander _ ,” He looked over.   
  


Commander Holt took a deep breath, “Hang on tight boys.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Please remember to show some love to Cookie's amazing art on her [twitter](https://twitter.com/fantasywalking) ! 
> 
> If you need something tagged please feel free to let me know! 
> 
> Commenting can be hard and requires a lot of energy - emojis, emoticons, lil hearts - mean so much to me and are all 100% considered a valid comment that will bring joy to my smol gay heart, thank u
> 
> Come say hi!  
> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/AlNiCa_)  
> [Pillowfort](https://pillowfort.social/alnica)


	4. Arus

_“Oh good, his heart rate is stable again. Apply some more of the paste on his thigh and rebandage his arm.”_

_“I’m on it.”_

_Shiro tried to move any part of his body but could only seem to get his toes to wiggle._

_“Marinda, I think he’s waking up.”_

_“Fuck, he should be asleep for longer. I’ll go get Melenor.”_

_He felt a brush of fingers on his forehead, “Go back to sleep, honey. You need your rest.”_

Shiro woke up groggy to a dark room, with purple ceilings, covered in rich red blankets. Whatever he was laying on was much softer than the cot he was sleeping on for the past three weeks on the ship, the blanket alone was fluffier than anything he’d ever seen available. Even before they started running low on fabrics. 

He tried his best to sit up but his body was too tired. Giving up, he instead he took time to scan the room, trying to figure out how he’d gotten back on Earth. The last thing he remembered was crashing on Mars. There was no way. He was told they wouldn’t be sending a backup team. 

Maybe Earth was more desperate than he thought. 

The walls looked like they were made of smooth metal, but the room was warm and homey. Next to him he heard the faint beeping of an EKG keeping time of his heartbeat and an IV running into his left hand. Whatever clothes they dressed him in were light and comfortable. 

Wherever he was, was definitely strange for an Earth hospital. Maybe he was on a different continent, he thought; he had only been in hospitals in the US. 

He was on the verge of sleep again when someone finally entered the room. Whoever it was, they were easily much taller than Shiro, with long braided hair. He must’ve hit his head harder than he thought, because in this lighting their skin almost looked purple. 

When they looked up and saw him awake they jumped, “Oh! Lieutenant Shirogane, no one told me you’d woken up. I’ll go get your Commander and the nurse on call.”

They quickly left and he heard them run down the hall. He had more questions now than before, for example, if he really hallucinated the purple human that had just come into this unique hospital room. 

Before he had the time to really unpack his thoughts, the person returned with Commander Holt and Matt in a wheelchair. They both looked a little banged up, but he could cry from how happy he was to see them alive and well. 

“Thank you Regris, could we have some time with Shiro alone to talk? He has a lot of catching up to do.”

Regris smiled, “Of course, just message me and I’ll bring some food down for all of you when you’re done. Marinda should be in soon to check on his bandages.”

“Thank you.”

Regris left while Commander Holt wheeled Matt over to the side of Shiro’s bed. Commander Holt sat on the edge of Shiro’s bed, as there wasn’t anywhere else to take up residence. 

“How are you feeling, Shiro?”

“Okay, I think. I’m pretty drugged up still, but I think I’m generally okay. How are you both?”

“I’m alright, just a bad concussion and a broken finger. Matt, unfortunately…”

“I lost part of my left leg, but they’re fitting me for a prosthetic, so no worries. I’ll be up and walking again soon.”

Shiro’s mouth hung open in shock. He shut it and tried to hold back tears threatening to fall. That was his fault. His. 

Matt took his hand, “Hey, it’s okay. It wasn’t your fault. They...they had security measures in place thousands of years ago and didn’t realize they were still up. If anything, it’s theirs. But it’s alright, they’re going to help.” 

Shiro sniffed as he grasped tighter onto his friend’s hand as he slowly processed what Matt just said, “Who’s they?”

Commander Holt cleared his throat, “Did they tell you where you were, Shiro?”

Shiro shook his head, “They got you as soon as I woke up.”

He nodded, “This is going to be a lot to take in, so tell me if you need a break, okay?”

He nodded in response.

“Right now, we’re in a medical facility on Mars. We crash landed here about a month ago. We weren’t able to see the barrier surrounding the planet, but that’s what shut off our ship. We hit a softer spot, which is how we survived. They immediately took us in and gave us treatment. You were in a coma for a while… You took the most damage when we landed.”

Commander Holt sighed, “They’re not aliens, they’re...from Earth. But a much different Earth than the one we live in. These people came here thousands of years ago when there was a threat that planned to get rid of some type of magic that was being used to keep the world alive. They still have it, which is why they’re able to live here on Mars.” 

“...what?”

“They’re mostly human, but with magic. Their ruler can explain more to you once you’re up though. She also wants to apologize. And told us she has something important she needs to tell you, specifically.”

“Shiro,” Matt added, “Don’t...stare when you see her.”

“Stare? Why would I do that?”

“You’ll see.”

*

Three tough and emotional days later, Regris came in with a wheelchair to take him to lunch with their queen. 

Once Sam and Matt finished talking, they broke the news to Shiro about his arm. While waking he had barely noticed, too drugged up to even attempt to move his limbs. They said he didn’t lose it entirely because of the crash, but with his condition it was irreparable. Matt promised him that they had extremely advanced prosthetics and that he’d get a new one once they could fit him too. The news was promising, but it still didn’t stop him from crying himself to sleep the past three nights. 

Commander Holt... Sam, he corrected himself. Sam said since the mission was mostly over that he didn’t need to keep with the formalities. Sam stayed with him most nights. Matt had been up for a couple of weeks and was doing much better. He woke up screaming a couple of nights, his body remembering the pain of the crash and the trauma of the injury. 

He (hopefully) pulled himself together this morning in preparation for meeting the ruler of this strange planet. If she was anything like Regris, he’d probably get along fine, but he was a little nervous since he’d always had issues getting authority to respect him with his illness. 

Shiro was rolled alongside Matt as they went through various hallways and up 43 floors in an elevator. The elevator was..interesting. To say the least. He’d never been in one that was a cylinder, to start. He’d also never been in one that travels in more ways than just up and down. He also must’ve looked confused as he stared at the floor numbers rising, because Regris broke the nervous silence. 

“We live underground most of the time. Mars is too cold on the surface for us to survive the majority of its orbit around the sun. But the warm season is coming up soon, I’m sure our Queen will allow you to go up to the surface to experience the good weather.” 

Shiro looked up and smiled, “I’d like that, thanks.” 

“Of course, and Matt can join you once we finish his new leg. It’s taking a while but we prefer patience to make sure things are done right.”

Matt pat his shoulder, “Hell yeah I can, we can go run around Mars. MARS, SHIRO!” 

Sam laughed as the elevator dinged, signaling they’d finally arrived. Regris and Sam rolled them out into the hall and into a room filled with a large table full of odd looking food and drinks. Some of the food resembled tacos but tasted more like a blueberry poptart and (he was concerned that) the drinks tasted like whiskey even though they resembled water. A couple of people were standing around, but none looked like they were royalty, but his idea of royalty was also based off of the fairy tale books Shiro had read with his mother when he was younger. 

He and Matt were parked on one side of the table, Sam sitting on the other side of Matt. 

The three people in the room who Shiro didn’t know came to sit down across from them at the table. The one on the right was ridiculously tall and had a scarily stern face, the one on the left had hair that looked like a fucking mess - actually sticking out on both sides of his purple face. The woman in the middle was equally as abnormally tall as the men next to her, had short hair and piercing purple eyes, a jawline and facial features that oddly reminded him of…

 _Oh my god._

He looked at Matt. 

Matt was already looking back and mouthed “ _no_ ” to him as he felt his pulse rise.

There was no way. Right? _Right?!_

“Hello, Shiro. It’s very nice to finally see you conscious,” the woman in the middle said. 

He heard Matt try to cough to cover up a laugh, “Uh, thank you. I’m glad to be conscious again after that pretty big fall we took.” 

She gave him an apologetic smile, “Yes, we’re deeply sorry about that. As you can imagine, it’s not every day we get visitors and the force field hasn’t been checked in about 100 years. We’ll make sure something like that doesn’t happen again.”

“I appreciate that. Uh...I apologize if I should know this, but what are all your names?”

The man with the crazy hair next to her laughed, “Oops.”

“Sorry about that, not meeting new people in a long time means you forget you need to introduce yourself,” she pointed to the man with the scowl, “This is Kolivan, he’s the leader of training our young in combat. And this is Thace, he’s head of technology. His office is on the 47th floor, in case you’re ever looking for Matt.” 

He noticed Matt blush as he looked away, typical Matt behavior. 

“And I’m Krolia, Queen of Mars. It really is a pleasure to meet you, I haven’t talked to someone from Earth in about two decades.”

Shiro cocked his head at that, “You’ve met humans before?”

She softly laughed, “Well, first of all, we’re also human. Due to some genetic alterations we needed to make to survive on this planet, some of us are now purple and...a little hairier than others. But I assure you, we’re all still very human. In fact, we’re technically more human than you. And yes, twenty-three years ago I was sent on a mission to Earth.” 

“What was your mission?”

“What was yours?”

Shiro paused at the question, not exactly expecting the quick reply. If he didn’t already notice the resemblance from her looks he absolutely would have now from her personality. But still... how on Earth could this woman be related to his best friend on Earth?

He cleared his throat, “Well...to find a new planet. Earth’s dying.”

She gave a knowing smile, “Mine was to help prevent that.” 

How could she prevent that? It was basically dead, there was no way she succeeded.

“I don’t understand,” Sam spoke up, “Prevent it how?”

“Do you know how we were able to get to Mars? How we were able to survive? How we were able to save all of you?” 

They all looked at each other and then back at Krolia, “Of course you don’t, it was a gift taken away from your people almost 10,000 years ago.” 

“A gift?”

She stood up, “Yes. Regris will you help with his wheelchair? If all of you would come with me, seeing will make more sense.”

They followed Krolia back to the elevators and down near where they started. She stayed quiet the entire time. She wore plain clothes but now that Shiro could see her fully, he could see the power that she held and was admittedly a little impressed and a bit scared by it. She didn’t flaunt her status, but it was definitely there. And the people they passed did not fear her, but genuinely looked like they loved her. That they were happy to have her as their Queen. A drastically different experience than the militaristic leadership his world has dealt with for the past 70 years. 

The elevator opened to a long hallway lined with glass walls, inside were rows and rows of vegetables and grains. They reminded Shiro of biology books from when he was 13. It was an older text that depicted when life used to flourish on Earth. Where plants thrived in their habitats, not struggling to remain rooted in the rotten soil. 

Krolia stopped them in front of one of the doors and had Thace let them in. She motioned for them to come near a giant table of strawberries. 

On Earth, Shiro would be excited to see fresh, beautifully ripe strawberries. But right now, on Mars in the middle of a giant farm, he was awestruck by the farmers instead. 

Rows and rows of people were spewing what he could only identify as magic from their hands, supporting growth and helping in harvesting their crops. Beautiful colors swirled through the air all around them, as Krolia looked on with a knowing smile. 

“10,000 years ago we all used to live on Earth, surrounded by thousands of different kinds of magic. At the heart of it all, was soulmate magic. It allowed the Earth to survive and flourish, but a very powerful sorcerer was denied by her soulmate and planned to eradicate them and our gifts. Two large clans found out about this, and with the help of our advanced technology, created a colony on Mars. We bonded our clans through marriage and were able to retain our gifts, but when Earth lost theirs, the planet began to die.

“After one of our oracles received a new prophecy, my mother sent me on a mission to Earth to try and help the planet we abandoned so long ago. I didn’t know exactly what I needed to do to help, but in the end I was able to complete my mission and was told to return home.”

Shiro finally looked away from the green vines wrapping themselves around the floor tiles, “What was the prophecy?”

Krolia sighed, “I’m afraid to say you’re a part of it, Shiro. A big part of it.”

He looked nervously around at Matt and Commander Holt’s expressions. He didn’t understand, how could he be involved? 

“Why me?” he finally asked Krolia.

She contemplated her answer before responding, “Let’s go see Melenor, she can explain far better than I could.”

Melenor, it turns out, is the High Oracle of the Altean seers. Altea was one of the two clans that came to Mars before the magical purge. Unique to their clan was the ability to shapeshift or the ability to prophesize what was to come. Even with the binding, they were able to retain their powers.

Also unique, is the fact that their skin isn’t purple. Shiro was told the day prior that the Marmoran clan didn’t fare as well to the change in environment as the Alteans were, which is the reason they had to adapt and the Alteans didn’t. In doing so they gained greater fighting abilities. 

Shiro is very confused. 

Melenor also stands tall like Krolia, with beautiful long white hair and gentle eyes. She’s one of the few people Shiro has seen so far that looked like they showed any real signs of aging. She moved with grace from where she was sitting on the far side of the room, surrounded by various overgrown plants and tall trees scattered throughout the large space. 

Regris mentioned that Melenor was once the ruler of both of their covens but gladly stepped down for Krolia’s parents to take her place when she lost her husband. The Marmorans, focusing on progressing together, put her in charge of all education. 

Krolia called the place they were in The Garden, which was a fitting name. He could smell the flowers and was able to hear the crunch of fallen leaves on the ground as they rolled him over to where everyone was congregating. Even if Shiro hadn’t seen what he had in the farm, he would immediately believe in the magic Krolia talked about just from the intense greenery surrounding him. 

“Krolia, welcome. It’s always a pleasure to have you visit us here.”

Krolia walked up and hugged Melenor and the younger woman standing next to her. She introduced her as Allura, Melenor’s daughter that was also blessed with her gifts of Sight. 

She came up to Shiro and took his hand, “We’ve been waiting for your for a while Shiro, I’m glad you’ve finally come.”

Shiro had no idea how he, a man from Arizona, could possibly play any role in helping the Earth after their trip. Especially now that he’s lost his arm. 

“You… have?”

She politely smiled and nodded, “We have. Queen Krolia was sent on her mission because my daughter was gifted a prophecy that would one day guide Earth back from the brink of death and all of us here back home.

“You have been chosen by fate as one of the key pieces of this prophecy as its success is dependent on it being fulfilled by those born on Earth.”

She guided him to come join her near a tree as she continued, “Do you believe in fate, Shiro?”

He shook his head, “I...I’m not sure. I never really thought about it. I don’t think so. The idea kind of scares me.”

“A perfectly normal fear. Those destined for greatness tend to feel fate was mistaken, but that’s exactly why they were chosen. And fate would not choose you if you weren’t meant to succeed.”

Shiro nodded as he tried to quiet the rapid beating of his heart and the shaking in his hand. This felt like a fantasy movie made to escape a depressing reality, not something that was actually happening to Shiro. 

He took a deep breath, thinking back to why he agreed to the mission in the first place. 

He wanted to help. They were showing him how.

“What’s the prophecy?”

Melenor smiled, “Yes, of course. Allura, come here sweetheart.”

Allura walked over and took her mother’s place, “Hello, Shiro. I was the one who saw the prophecy. I’ll be able to show you, but you may get a migraine afterward. We can provide you with some tea to help with the pain. It’s normal the first couple of times you experience this.”

He raised his eyebrow and looked to Matt, “It’s fine, I promise.”

He nodded to Allura and she leaned in and place her hands on both sides of his head and closed her eyes. He did the same and immediately felt a sharp pull in the center of his body, then it felt like he was floating in the school swimming pool. 

Allura’s voice came in muffled from behind him, “Shiro, follow me and I’ll show you all you need to know.”

He turned and swam towards her and was instantly transported back to Arizona. In the center of the desert was Keith. 

He looked disheveled and exhausted. His skin was covered in bruises and dirt, skinnier than when he last saw him. His hair in a knot at the back of his head, his cheeks freckled and slightly burnt. He tried to run to him, but couldn’t move so he called out to him. 

“Keith?!”

He didn’t move. Barely reacted. Shiro would’ve thought that he didn’t know he was there if he wasn’t staring directly at him. 

“Keith, it’s me. Shiro.”

“ _Two souls broke, two souls mend_ ,” Keith said. 

“What?” 

“Shh, just listen.”

The scene shifted; he now had no idea where he was, but he could feel the warm sand in his toes and cool rain falling from the sky. 

He looked up to see Keith again, standing parallel to him, feet in the water. This time he looked a little better, healthier, even if still tired.

 _“With water that purifies and stones of healing,”_ Keith continued. 

“What stones, Keith?”

He fell through the sand and into a thick bush covered in wild berries. He got up and frantically looked around the gigantic trees surrounding him. 

“Keith?! Allura?”

He tripped, fell over a cliff into a waterfall. He struggled to keep himself afloat, but gave up when he ran out of energy. 

He couldn’t breathe. 

He couldn’t...oh. 

Oh, this was a dream. He’s fine. He worked on controlling his pulse as he looked around the water. He was slowly sinking to the bottom. 

Once standing on the bottom, he heard it. Keith.

_“Fated blood drawn from the knife of the abandoned.”_

He tried to swim towards him, but just started spinning in place. 

“Keith, where are we?!” He practically screamed underwater.

“It’s not actually Keith, Shiro. It’s not real.”

“Where are we?”

The water began to drain, he was thrown onto hard Earth and started spitting up water. 

There was lightning in the sky and wind blowing at wild speeds around him. People he didn’t recognize, besides Allura and Melenor, were standing around Keith and him chanting words in a language he didn’t recognize. 

He looked up at Keith. He looked beautiful even as his hair whipped around, tears streamed down his fear-stricken face, and blood poured from deep gashes spanning the length of both of his palms. Caused by the knife that somehow appeared in Shiro’s hand. 

_“One ritual, to put our worlds back together again.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Please remember to show some love to Cookie's amazing art on her [twitter](https://twitter.com/fantasywalking) ! 
> 
> If you need something tagged please feel free to let me know! 
> 
> Commenting can be hard and requires a lot of energy - emojis, emoticons, lil hearts - mean so much to me and are all 100% considered a valid comment that will bring joy to my smol gay heart, thank u
> 
> Come say hi!  
> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/AlNiCa_)  
> [Pillowfort](https://pillowfort.social/alnica)


	5. Arizona

The sirens started blaring as an unidentified craft entered the atmosphere. Keith could see it from the porch of his decrepit desert shack. He ran out, barely tugging on his boots, and hopped on his hoverbike to race to where the ship was headed. 

He closed the distance in a much shorter time than recommended, arriving just after the jackasses from the Garrison had completely surrounded where the ship was descending. 

He watched intently behind a large boulder as the alien aircraft slowly landed and shut off. He heard Commander Sanda call to them from the safety of her cruiser, “Come out with your hands above your head. You have illegally landed in a secure zone.” 

The desert was eerily silent for 30 seconds before the door of the ship began to open. The lights were too bright in the dead of night for them to see until the people walking out got to about halfway down. 

There were four of them. One was missing an arm, and one had a fake leg. Keith quickly got out his binoculars to get a better look. Once in focus, he was able to see Commander Holt and Matt. Matt had the fake leg and ridiculously long hair in a low ponytail; he was smiling walking down with his hands in the air. Commander Holt looked relatively unscathed, the only real sign he had been gone was the extra wrinkles and salt and pepper hair he was now sporting. 

Next to him was a dark-skinned woman with long white hair in braids; she had strange marks on her cheeks and was absolutely stunning. The man on the right...the man…

Keith dropped his binoculars and ran. 

There might’ve been screaming. Guns aimed at him. Warnings to back away or he’d get shot. 

He didn’t  _ care _ . 

Did they not see who was walking off that ship?!

Shiro.

That was  _ Shiro. _

He yelled to him and Shiro snapped his head up. They made eye contact and he felt tears streaming down his face. 

_ Shiro _ . 

Shiro ran down the ramp and towards him. It felt like he was moving in slow motion when he finally collided into a solid wall of warmth and he felt a large arm wrap around his middle for the first time in a so,  _ so _ long. 

_ Shiro. His Shiro. _

Tears fell onto his hair. He was being squeezed so tight but he didn’t care. 

They tried to say he was dead. He wouldn’t listen. He knew he shouldn’t listen. 

Keith always knew he'd see Shiro again someday, even if he had to fly up to Mars and get him back himself, but knowing he'd see him again someday and actually seeing him again after all this time were two entirely different things.

_ “Shiro.”  _ he choked out. 

“Keith. It’s me. It’s me. I’m here. I came back.”

“Step back from him!”

“No!” Keith yelled back. He just got the most important person in his life back. There was no way he was letting go. 

“Keith,” Shiro’s arm ran up and down his back, “Keith, it’s okay. We have a lot of questions to answer. I promise I’m not leaving here without you again. I promise.”

Keith leaned back to take his face in his hands, “If you try to, I’ll steal the nearest shuttle and follow you, you ass.”

Shiro laughed through his tears and whispered, “I promise. Let me go talk to Sanda and I’ll come find you. I promise.”

Keith nodded as he reluctantly let go, “I’ll wait outside the base.”

He heard a loud sigh, “It’s fine, Keith, you can come along.” 

They turned to see Iverson standing next to Commander Holt, “Shiro was going to demand to see you anyways. Everyone just hop in a cruiser, I guess.”

Keith took Shiro’s hand and they got into the cruiser. Neither of them letting go until they got the base.

*

6 hours later, the Garrison continued to question the three of them in separate rooms. Keith was told to wait in the lobby while the others were ushered in and forced to be checked by physicians. One look at Allura and an officer reached for handcuffs but Commander Holt gave them the most threatening look Shiro had ever seen, and that thought was quickly dismissed. 

In the time they’d been gone, Shiro had learned so much. About himself, about magic, and about the prophecy that apparently included himself, and about Keith. They were told before they left how much they were able to tell about their journey and what they learned. He agreed with their worry; there’s no telling how everyone would react if they told everyone the truth about why the planet was actually dying. 

Shiro told Iverson and Sanda as much as he was allowed. So did Matt and Sam, judging by how annoyed Sanda became as the interrogations went on. 

“Like I told you, we crashed on Mars because of a force field. The people living there took us in and helped us heal. We came back on one of their ships on a mission. The crash was an accident; they hadn’t expected anyone to try and land on Mars.”

Iverson rolled his eyes again, “Is there anything else you can tell us, Shiro? I want to try and let you out as soon as possible, but unless you give us a better reason, I can’t. This is more suspicious than the beginning of WWIII and you know it.”

“Allura. Allura is our proof. If you just let her show you, like I said, it would all make sense.”

Sanda stood up and squared her shoulders, “She gets one chance to explain.”

*

They brought all of them together in one of the holding cells. Allura asked for them to place one apple in the room on a table, and to stand back. Matt smirked as he stood by, Iverson looking confused, Sanda still annoyed as ever. 

“I’m assuming they all told you how we were able to survive on Mars for so long. I know what they said must be confusing, but I’m here to assist them in their next journey and act as a diplomat for my people.” 

Sanda raised an eyebrow and nodded. 

“I will now demonstrate how we’ve been able to create our own food on Mars below the surface.” 

Allura focused in on the apple on the table and raised her hands. The dark and silent room filled with a strong pink glow and the audible shock of all those mesmerized by the power spilling from Allura’s hands. In no time at all, the lone apple on the table grew into a strong and beautiful tree, full of ripe fruit and digging its roots deep into the tile flooring.

A symphony of gasps were heard throughout the room as everyone stared on in disbelief at the apple tree standing before them. Most people were frozen in space, it took a while but eventually, Iverson stepped forward, a tear falling down his cheek as he reached out to tug an apple off a branch, “The last time we’ve had an apple tree, a  _ real _ apple tree, was over 45 years ago.” 

“How is this possible?” Admiral Sanda asked.

“Unfortunately, when we left there was a spell done to remove the magic from all of those who remained on Earth. Those of us on Mars still have it. That’s how we survived. I’m here to help Earth get it back. If we’re successful, we can reverse the damage already done.”

Sanda simply nodded as she continued to stare at the beautiful, healthy apple tree sprouting from the floor. 

“There’s too much now to explain, and a lot I am not permitted to say. But our mission is to form a team, collect the items around the planet that we need, and call for a ship to bring down some of my people to help hold a special ceremony to replenish the Earth of its magic.” 

That caught Sanda’s attention, “You really believe I would just let you leave this facility to frolic around after what you just showed us?”

Shiro stepped forward, “Admiral, you sent us to Mars to find a way to save the world. I know this isn’t what you had in mind, but this is it. This is how we save the human race. We need to do this, and we don’t have a lot of time. I’ve seen what we need to do with my own two eyes; I wouldn’t recommend this if I didn’t think it would work.” 

Matt moved to stand by Shiro’s side, who was standing tall next to Allura. Sanda stared down the trio, everyone holding their breath as they waited for her to make her decision. 

She sighed, “What kind of team?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Please remember to show some love to Cookie's amazing art on her [twitter](https://twitter.com/fantasywalking) ! 
> 
> If you need something tagged please feel free to let me know! 
> 
> Commenting can be hard and requires a lot of energy - emojis, emoticons, lil hearts - mean so much to me and are all 100% considered a valid comment that will bring joy to my smol gay heart, thank u
> 
> Come say hi!  
> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/AlNiCa_)  
> [Pillowfort](https://pillowfort.social/alnica)


	6. Water

“Please...tell me more about what happened?”

Shiro sighed from where he was situated on Keith’s couch. He’d just woken up from a 4 hour nap after he shoveled as much chili he could into his stomach. Keith had draped a blanket over him and squatted next to the couch so he could keep an eye on Shiro while he read. 

He sat up to get a look at his friend. The entire time they were being interrogated in the Garrison he hadn’t had much brainpower to take in anything other than that his favorite person alive on Earth was once again standing in front of him. 

Shiro's eyes clung to Keith a bit too long, so different than how he had regarded him back before the Mars mission. He couldn't put a finger on it, but it felt...different. A different that made his cheeks heat up, that made his chest feel light in a way it hadn't really ever been before now. Keith couldn't blame him for staring, really; he had done the same when Shiro had walked off that ship with a prosthetic arm and partially white hair. Clearly Shiro's time in space had changed him, but it had been a long few years for Keith back on Earth too.

“Can we go outside first? I want to sit in the sun a little more.”

Keith smiled and then stood up, reaching for his hand, “Of course, come on.”

It took a couple of hours of sitting on Keith’s porch to fully explain all that he could. There was still a lot about the prophecy that he didn’t understand, but Allura was there to help as much as she could. He watched Keith as he talked, never taking his attention off Shiro or the almost unbelievable tale he was trying to tell. Almost unbelievable, if it wasn’t for the physical proof they brought back with them. 

“And you think...you and I are supposed to be the ones to do whatever this prophecy is implying?”

“Yeah, I’ve been thinking about it non-stop but there’s no other way I could interpret it. I don’t know what that means about...us...but Allura said she’d tell us the rest when it’s the right time.”

“What do you mean ‘us’?”

Shiro could feel his cheeks getting hot as Keith asked, “I mean...the original people who did this were soulmates. And Allura’s mom said only soulmates could reverse it. There’s no...real way to determine anymore who’s soulmates but she said we might have to...ya know. Guess. Based off the prophecy.”

“We could be...soulmates?”

Shiro looked up to see Keith staring off into the distance where the sun was currently dipping beyond the line of canyons, casting a pink glow over his soft skin. 

That was a question Shiro hadn’t stopped thinking about since he saw the prophecy for himself. It was like an equation he was given to complete in his algebra class that he knew the answer to but didn’t want to finish and be the first one done. He wasn’t ready to turn it in, have the entire class make assumptions on his body language, what he said, what he did afterward to see if he failed or not. And just like then, he wasn’t ready to acknowledge the possibility and have to try and guess how Keith felt about it, all while desperately attempting not to give away what was buried deep in his heart and possibly fuck up the best thing about his life. 

He took a deep breath, his heart aching as his mind refused to finish the equation, “I guess we’ll eventually find out, but right now...I don’t know.”

Keith looked down at his hands, picked at his knuckle a second before looking back up at Shiro, “Okay, where do we start?”

*

The journey they were about to go on wasn’t necessarily clear; all they had was a vague idea of what they needed and some best guesses about where they could find it. So far they were looking for some type of pure water source (harder than it sounds), stones with healing properties, blood, and a special knife. 

The team they needed wasn’t necessarily a team, but a group of people that Shiro and Matt trusted to help them get the job done in time to fulfill the prophecy. Not that there seemed to be an actual time limit, but the planet wasn’t dying any slower. 

Matt’s younger sibling Pidge was skilled in technology but had a strange sense of direction when it came to nature and would be crucial for helping them navigate through the last of dense forests in hopes of finding a clean water source that would be pure enough for what they needed. Pidge’s friend Hunk had more knowledge than anyone would ever need about rocks and stones, and as an engineer, his insight would be helpful in figuring out how to dig up what they need. 

Lance, their other friend, well...he’s not entirely sure why he was coming along. But he had a natural skill with plenty of weapons which could potentially come in handy if they run into any nomadic groups that were more hostile. 

The group was given a small aircraft that snuggly fit them all to travel around on their mission. Sanda was strict about not wanting any other countries to know what they were doing for fear of them reacting before they were able to tell the entire truth, so once they left the US, they were mostly on their own. 

“Once we set down in Thailand we’ll have to go on foot for a little while to where a couple of freshwater sources have been reported. There’s a large dead zone that we should be safe to stash the plane. Matt will be staying aboard in case we need a quick extraction,” Shiro ran through the plan once more, even though they’ve been reviewing these plans for weeks.

“I have a question.”

Shiro looked over to see Lance leaning against the wall with his hip cocked out, “What is it?”

“Explain again why we can’t just land the plane near the waterfalls and hop out quick? I forgot.”

“BecAUSE,” Pidge yelled up from where they were walking into the cockpit, “The rich are still claiming all the good land, and not everyone who has to struggle to survive in the semi-livable lands are friendly. They might try to steal the ship, for which I don’t blame them.”

“And the fewer chances for confrontation, the better. They did nothing wrong and only want resources. We’re doing this for them as much as the planet, so try your best not to interact with any locals.” 

“Shiro?”

He looked up to see Keith in the pilot seat, gave him a half smile, “I’m ready to go whenever everyone else is.” 

Shiro reached out and squeezed his shoulder, “Alright team, you heard him. Everyone buckle up. Including you Allura. I don’t want to know what’ll happen to me if we don’t return you back safe to your mother.”

She puffed out a breath, “Yes I know, no worries. I put my safety belt on.”   


Two hours later, and several almost-fights between Lance and Keith, they touched down at their set coordinates safely outside the edge of the forest in Thailand.

As planned, Matt stayed back to monitor their journey via satellite and make sure that nothing happened to the plane. Shiro quickly found out how nervous a person Hunk was as they went over their safety protocol again, but luckily Pidge was there to keep him relatively calm while Lance continued to try and chat up Allura. Keith and Shiro ended up taking the lead, walking side by side through the dense forest.

“So, I’m guessing you don’t like Lance much?”

Keith rolled his eyes, “He used to try and get me riled up in school, taunt me and try and start fights randomly because he had something to prove. I have no idea why but it was fucking annoying.” Keith peaked back at Lance before turning his head forward again, “He’s definitely calmed down but he still gets on my nerves.”

Keith moved a low hanging branch out of the way for everyone to step through while Shiro laughed, “No shit. Allura seems to be handling him just fine so you hopefully won’t have to deal with him to much.”

“You better hope so, Shirogane.”

There wasn’t exactly a trail where they were, but they tried their best to stick to the less grassy areas. Shiro almost got emotional at seeing so much green since most of the vegetation on the base was artificial. The air smelled cleaner than he’d ever experienced in his life and he’d almost forgotten how soft moss was. 

The group hiked for hours, and they stopped to let Allura look around as they went. As much as this was a new experience for them it was a completely new experience for her. She’d only been on Earth for 3 weeks and Shiro had never met someone so curious and interested to learn. 

Eventually, they got to a clearing and decided to stop for food. Nothing special, bland protein bars, some fruit, and water. Pidge grumbled as they washed down the dry granola but Keith had yet to complain about anything they’d experienced yet. Like Shiro, he assumed he was just glad to be reunited with the other. 

Everyone groaned as the two stood up to put everything away and announced that it was time to move out. He and Keith bumped shoulders as they stared out across the bushes, flowers, and trees. It was beautiful. They hoped the rest of the world could look like this again one day. 

Keith looked up to Shiro, “Ready to hike another 7 miles?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be.”

*

Eight miles and 3 waterfalls later, they finally found one that Allura deemed worthy. It was still unclear to Shiro what the actual qualifications were for the ‘pure water’ they needed, but he wanted to do it right the first time so he didn’t voice any complaints. 

At some point, Shiro almost forgot that they were on a last ditch effort to save the entire planet from its untimely demise. Almost.

He kept fooling around with Keith as they walked. Pointing out weird birds, strange trees, laughing and enjoying his time with his best friend. But the prophecy kept creeping up out of the back of his mind, reminding him that this beautiful happiness wouldn’t last long. He longed to bottle up this moment forever, if not for him but for Keith. So he can always remember how much he loved him even after he wasn’t there to remind him.

As they approached the base of the falls the group became mesmerized by how beautiful it really was. The water looked cleaner than he’d ever seen, with soft grass surrounding it. Looking closer, he even saw some fish swimming around, a sight he hadn't seen since he took a school trip to the local aquarium 15 years ago.

Allura took the lead as they climbed to the top and when they arrived she peered over and said, “Alright, all I know is that Shiro and Keith need to jump in.”

Keith looked up, “We need to what?”

“It’s vague, not everything I see is clear, but I know you both need to jump in before you’re able to collect the water.”

“But the water won’t be pure anymore, would it?”

Allura sighed and waved her hand, “Prophecy doesn’t always make sense. It’s also never in order. I believe something will happen, I just don’t know what.”   


Keith looked up at Shiro, Shiro shrugged before taking off his jacket, boots, and backpack. Keith followed suit before they were both down to their t-shirts and boxers. Well, Keith was wearing boxers while Shiro was desperately trying to pull down his shirt to cover his, unfortunately, low-rise briefs, not the best option for their adventure today. He could hear Hunk trying to cover Lance’s whistling while Pidge snickered from their perch on a rock. 

Keith raised a brow and all he could get out was an exasperated, “They’re comfy, okay.” 

They made their way to the edge of the falls, “Alright hold hands and jump on three,” they tightly clasped hands, “One, two, three!”

They jumped. The falls weren’t high but it felt like they were falling forever. Shiro could’ve sworn Keith yelled out as they descended but he never let go. 

They hit the water, submerged in an icy blanket. It’d been so long since Shiro had gone swimming and while the water was unreasonably cold, his body was free in a way it hadn’t been since his first trip to the moon when he got to take a spacewalk. He looked over to see Keith’s hair flowing in the water and his fingers tightly locked with his. It was peaceful. 

For a moment. 

They got their bearings and Keith made way to try and pull them up to the surface when Shiro started to feel a sharp tug on his ankle. He looked down and nothing was there but he could feel himself being pulled down towards the bottom. He tried not to panic, but beside him, Keith was having the opposite reaction.

The fear in Keith’s eyes was clear. Shiro felt his grip on his wrist tightened and saw Keith’s legs start to kick as fast as possible. Shiro started to kick his legs while Keith tried to pull him towards the surface, but their struggle was for nothing. The water started to spin as they were pulled farther under. 

One quick jump into a waterfall turned into a fight to stay alive and Shiro’s panic shot up to a 10 when he looked up and saw that Keith was struggling to stay conscious. Shiro desperately tried to get Keith to let go of his hand but he refused. Of course he would refuse; no matter the danger, Keith would never leave Shiro to face it alone. 

He could feel his lungs struggling and his head getting fuzzy; whatever was pulling them in wouldn’t give up. He finally got Keith back and now they’d both die because of some stupid prophecy from some witches on Mars. It was enough to make him want to cry.

He looked up again to make eye contact with his friend when they were...for lack of a better description, spit back out onto the shore. 

Shiro sat up and puked up any and all food that still resided in his stomach: about 80% water and 20% granola. He could hear their group running down the cliff to where they were, but he immediately realized he heard nothing from Keith. 

He got up and quickly moved to where he was laying, not breathing on the grass and began chest compressions. He was too light headed for CPR but there was no way he’d give up on the person that meant the most to him in the entire universe. 

Just on the verge of passing out, Lance rushed in perfect timing to take over. With his proper training and full strength, he watched as Keith started coughing up all the water he swallowed as Lance rolled him onto his side. 

Shiro moved around to help hold Keith’s hair back as he vomited and sobbed, “I’m here,” he whispered, “I’m right here. You’re alive. We’re alive. We’re okay.” He rubbed Keith back as he shook on the ground. 

“Here, let me try and warm him up a bit,” Allura said as she kneeled next to Lance. While Hunk rummaged around for a blanket, Allura used some magic to start warming up Keith’s body from the inside. 

It took about an hour, but Keith finally calmed down and was resting in Shiro’s arms while the others (minus Pidge, who was busy giving Matt a report of their day) started to make camp. 

Allura eventually came over as Keith was waking up, “I’m so sorry. I had no idea this portion of the prophecy was a test.”

Shiro’s fingers stopped their movements in Keith’s hair, “What do you mean a test?”   


She sat down, “Well, as you know, this all has to do with soulmate magic and those fated to fix all of this must also be soulmates. But, humans don’t have marks. Since we weren’t going to need water for the ritual I wasn’t quite sure why we would need to come here. It seems our ancestors had a test in mind to try and prove whether or not you and Keith were really soulmates.”

Shiro felt more than heard the cough from Keith before he croaked out, “So what you’re saying is...Shiro and I…”

“Most likely yes, though without a set of marks you can never be sure. But with the prophecy and now this, I believe it’d be safe to assume that you two are in fact mates. The first confirmed on Earth in over 10,000 years. Congratulations!” 

He felt Keith’s pulse quicken where his wrist was resting on his hand. They talked about the possibility but never how they would react to it. He and Keith, soulmates? It felt like a dream but he was nervous that it would be Keith’s nightmare. 

“Allura, would you be okay with us talking alone for a bit? I think there’s some things we need to discuss.”

She gave him a soft look, “Of course, let me know if you both need anything.”

He felt Keith move in his arms and tried to sit up. He was still weak so Shiro helped him lean against the tree next to him. He tried and figure out what his best friend was thinking but it was unclear, even to him. 

He bumped his shoulder to get his attention, “Tell me what’s on your mind?”

Keith let out a shaky breath, “Soulmates.”   


“Yeah, how do you...how do you feel about that?”

“I don’t know...not negative,” he ran his hands over his face and sighed, “What does being soulmates mean, really? Does it mean what we think it means?”

“What like, two people fated to fall in love?”

Shiro looked up to find Keith looking at him. There was so much, almost too much emotion in his eyes that were currently getting glossy in the moonlight. 

Shiro reached out to take his hand, “What do you want it to mean?”

He saw small tears slip from Keith’s eyes as he shook his head, “That’s not a fair question.”

“Why not?”

“This is too much,” he barely got out as the tears started to flow down his blotchy cheeks.

Shiro pulled Keith into his arms once again as he cried and continued to whisper reassurances into his ear. 

“We don’t have to figure it out now. No matter what, I’m not leaving you. Never again. We’ll figure it out when we’re ready.” 

That night he fell asleep to Keith’s rough but steady breathing puffing out against his chest. He carefully moved them to their own tent that Hunk set up for them and laid them both down as comfortable as he could manage. 

When they had left the base that morning. they had no idea what was in store for them; he couldn’t have imagined it was going to be as emotionally exhausting as it was physically. Sleep wasn’t coming easy, but he needed it for whatever would happen in the morning. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Please remember to show some love to Cookie's amazing art on her [twitter](https://twitter.com/fantasywalking) ! 
> 
> If you need something tagged please feel free to let me know! 
> 
> Commenting can be hard and requires a lot of energy - emojis, emoticons, lil hearts - mean so much to me and are all 100% considered a valid comment that will bring joy to my smol gay heart, thank u
> 
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> [Pillowfort](https://pillowfort.social/alnica)


	7. Stones

Pidge opened the zipper on their tent, “Rise and shine, it’s time to get a move on. We’ve risked enough time out here without getting attacked and I don’t feel like risking anymore.”

Keith grunted from where his face was currently smashed into Shiro’s arm, “We’ll be there soon Pidge.”

Pidge grunted in response and closed the flap of their tent on their way out. Shiro picked his head up to get a better look at Keith, “How’d you sleep?”

“I feel dead.”

“Fair,” he took a deep breath before carefully removing Keith from where he was lying, “I gotta piss, I’ll bring you back some breakfast.”

He heard Keith’s soft hum of acknowledgement as he wrestled his way out of the tent. 

Their campsite was quiet aside from the occasional rustling of Lance and Hunk trying to get their tent back in its bag and Allura humming while braiding her hair. The night before, they all went to bed pretty early, so they hadn’t gotten a chance to really unpack what had happened to Keith and him in the water. 

Honestly, Shiro wasn’t even sure he was processing it correctly. Upon further investigation from Allura, there was nothing but some plants and a few small fish in the water - nothing that could’ve latched onto Shiro’s leg to pull him down. She said it might be an example of magical sites still existing on Earth, which was a good sign and made it seem like if they could complete the prophecy they might actually be successful, but made them wonder why the magic affected them specifically. 

Keith barely reacted when she said it and it scared Shiro. Keith had always been an expert at hiding his emotions from everyone except him. 

Once he got Keith up and moving, Allura collected what they hoped was enough water from the falls (just in case) and they started to make their way back to where Matt was still parked. 

Shiro couldn’t stop his eyes from gravitating towards Keith. He’d chosen to walk ahead of the group with the excuse of wanting to scout ahead to keep everyone safe. Shiro gave Keith the space he needed, but it didn’t stop him from keeping an eye on where he was at all times. 

Not many people would notice the rigidness of his shoulders, the slight clench of his jaw, the way he continued to rub his thumb over his closed fist - but he noticed. Years of breaking down Keith’s walls gave him the knowledge to look past the mask Keith put up to the rest of the world. He’d need to find some time later to talk to him about what was going through his mind or Keith might keep closing himself off more and more.

It took them most of the day to get back, since a lot of it was uphill and Shiro was in worse condition than when they started and they ended up taking more breaks than when they hiked down the day before. He couldn’t really remember the last time his illness had flared up this bad but he was regretting not checking in with medical personnel to get some backup muscle stimulators before he left. 

He tried to refrain from wincing whenever a muscle locked up or pain shot through his nerves, but the symptoms were starting to progress a lot faster than normal. He sighed as he climbed over a rock in their path, thinking about how he was almost let go from the Garrison because of his illness. 

It wasn’t because he was sick, or because they couldn’t think he could handle it, but because they didn’t want to pay the ridiculous upfront cost of the amount of meds he’d need to take up with him on the ship to last him the entire journey. While taking his normal dose no one had any idea there was anything wrong with the Garrison’s golden boy aside from the higher ups, his doctors, and Keith. 

But they argued that there was too much at stake to send a sick man to try and save the world. 

He argued it made more sense to send someone who was destined to live a short life in case something went wrong. 

It wasn’t a great argument, but it worked. It was also the argument that had been the nail in the coffin for his relationship with his ex, Adam. At the time he felt betrayed, but as time went on he could start to understand why Adam felt the way he did. Shiro forgave him, even if it wasn’t necessarily fair. 

While on Mars, Krolia had gifted him a similar medication to take back with him, much stronger than his usual meds, but as time went on it was clear his body was rejecting it. The medical staff on Earth allotted him as much as he needed of his usual medications for this trip but… it wasn’t working either. 

A low hanging limb almost clothes-lining him brought him back to the present. A sharp pain up his left leg  _ really _ brought him back to the present, catching him so off guard he couldn’t fully keep in the small whimper that escaped him. 

Out of the corner of his eye he could see the concerned face Allura was making but she luckily never brought anything up. There’s a possibility that Keith or Pidge had said something about it, either way, he was thankful for the lack of attention on something he really rather not discuss. 

*

When they finally returned, the first thing they all did was take turns showering, then they finally ate something that wasn’t dry granola bars.

Then they sat down to talk to Matt about what happened.

“So you both just...started drowning?”

Keith didn’t look up from his place on the floor across the room from Shiro as they were addressed so Shiro took the lead in answering, “Technically, no. Something grabbed my ankle and started pulling me down, and Keith tried to pull me up. Allura tried looking and didn’t find anything that could’ve grabbed me. She thinks it was a test.”

Matt whistled, “Damn, that sounds awful. Good thing Keith is a good swimmer. Why’d you have to jump in anyways?”   


They all turned to Allura at the question and she started to blush at the attention, “Oh, uhm, well. The prophecy showed they needed to get in the water by jumping, but I wasn’t entirely sure why. I’m assuming it might’ve been a test of some sort. As I explained before, sometimes prophecies are vague and we need to figure them out as we go.”

“But why Shiro and Keith?” Lance asked from where he was leaning his entire body weight on Hunk. 

Allura made eye contact with Shiro, then quickly looked away, “I’m not sure. It could be a number of reasons.”

Lance raised an eyebrow, “Didn’t you say all of this had to do with soulmates though?”

She delicately cleared her throat, “Yes, I did. There’s still the chance people are born fated but nothing can be confirmed without a soulmark. Once the ritual is performed magic will return and so will soulmarks.”

Hunk interjected then, “You keep talking about this ritual? What is it exactly?”

“Well, for a long time what was involved was lost to us. But after the prophecy I was given a vision of what needed to occur. Shiro and Keith will need to kneel in a circle of ground up crystals to contain the magic. They will need to use a ceremonial blade to draw some blood from their hands. And then uhm…”

Keith quickly turned at that, “Then what?”

She sighed as she sat down, “That’s the problem. No one knows. Not even me. Once Honverva and Zarkon completed the ritual they vanished. No one knows what happened to them. There were flames and then they were gone.”

“...gone?” Hunk whispered from where he was worrying in the corner. 

“I’m going to go take my shower. We can talk more later.”

Everyone continued on talking about the new knowledge as Allura left. 

He worked to get Keith’s attention and when he did he tried to get across that they should probably discuss what Allura just told them. The new possibility that they might not survive whatever they were volunteering themselves for. Instead of responding Keith got up to excuse himself for the bathroom. 

Matt looked over but Shiro only shrugged his shoulders. Keith would talk to him when he’s ready. 

*

“Alright so, let me explain what we’re looking for,” Allura began. They were about an hour out of their target landing zone in what was once Austria, outside of caves that didn’t exist until about 70 years ago when an earthquake ruined almost every bit of architecture the country still had standing. 

“The moldavite crystals are green and usually look a bit textured. I’m sending a picture to all of your devices in case we get split up. We don’t need much more than 50 grams, and if my spell this morning was accurate then there should be enough there.” 

The region was reported to be mostly abandoned. Masks were recommended due to the lingering toxins in the air from civil war in Italy occurring soon after the devastating earthquake. Hunk was currently handing out masks and extra containers of oxygen, just in case. There was a chance the caves were safe but there wasn’t a high enough chance to risk going without. 

“The moldavite is supposed to do...what exactly?” Pidge asked while looking at the files Allura sent to everyone.

“Moldavite has special properties that will be critical in Earth’s healing. On Mars we use it as a catalyst to draw in light for those who need a boost. Luckily there’s plenty because a meteor full of it crashed on Mars at the same time it crashed here. And like I mentioned before, Keith and Shiro will need to use the crystal as a means of protection when performing the ritual. To keep the magic in their side of it.”

They hummed while quizzically pushing up their glasses, “I’ve never used crystals for healing before, but we’ve been experiencing a lot of firsts lately I guess.” They turned to whisper to Hunk, “After this we can go save the dying babies in New Jersey with Allura’s fancy rocks.”

Allura glared at them with a huff, hearing exactly what they said. 

Shiro cleared his throat as he stood up, “Right. Thank you, Allura. We need to remember that we don’t know what’s in the caves so we need to be careful and try to stick together. No one goes off alone and no one takes off their helmet, got it?”

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement.

“Alright well, if there’s no more questions it’s time to move out.”

*

The cave they were walking into gave almost everyone shivers and feelings of uneasiness. The masks we providing enough protection, though they could tell how thick and humid the air still was based on how foggy their goggles became. 

The outside was covered in shards of metal, rock, and glass as the cave was half man-made and half natural. The first 100 meters were curving halls filled with broken doors, paint chips, and the like scattered everywhere. 

Shiro continued to call out for everyone to be careful as they moved forward. Allura had some type of tracking spell in the works and was leading their pack with a faint pink glowing orb that occasionally changed size and color as they got closer or farther from their destination. 

The long tunnel eventually opened up to a larger cavern filled with glistening stalagmites and a steady drip of water coming from somewhere in the ceiling. The vast void in front of them reeked of something stale and possibly dead, though no one in the group had the courage to question what it might be. 

Allura’s tracker pointed them onwards, Keith walking close behind, Lance and Hunk keeping up but taking time to explore the side of the cave while they march on, and Shiro staying in back with Pidge as they try to collect as many air and Earth samples as possible in hopes of seeing how well Austria has healed since the last evacuation train had departed. 

Shiro felt a little rumble where he was standing but didn’t think much of it, at least until the Earth seemed to shake with more vigor the second time, confirming that what he felt the first time was more than just rocks moving. 

“Guys, did you feel that?” Hunk asked from a much farther side of the room. 

“It’s probably an earthquake. If there’s any more movement we’ll turn around and come back when we know it’s safe,” Shiro said as he screwed on the last cap for Pidge.

“But what if the next thing we feel is the big daddy? Shouldn’t we be leaving - I don’t know - NOW?!” Lance exclaimed.

Keith rolled his eyes, “We’re fine, Lance. Nothing’s going to happen to…” the cavern started to vibrate, starting at a low frequency but quickly building to an intense rattle that forced everything to start moving.

Shiro was about to yell out for them to get moving when the ceiling suddenly started to crack. He heard Allura call out for everyone to move, he picked up Pidge and bolted for the nearest entrance and could see the others doing the same out of the corner of his eye. 

He could feel the large falling pieces of the cave hit the floor with every step he took. He didn’t stop running even with Pidge yelling over his shoulder. He couldn’t help them right now. He needed to get them out first. 

“SHIRO RUN FASTER!!!”

He sprinted as fast as he could. Right as they were about to become buried under several tons of rock he dove headfirst into whatever was ahead of them. 

Shiro must’ve knocked himself out when he dove because he came to a bit later once the dust settled. Pidge had a small splint on their wrist, he could see them examining it from where he was propped against the cave wall. 

“Fuck,” he tried to sit up and they scrambled to come help, “Pidge, you okay?”

“Okay as I can be,” they sighed, “The good news is, we’re alive and have plenty of food and water. The bad news is, the walkies aren’t working right now. And… we’re separated from the others. I’ve been walking up and down the tunnel but I can’t seem to find a way towards where they might be.”

Shiro looked down both directions of the tunnel and then back at Pidge, “Well, better get settled in. Looks like we might be here for a while then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Please remember to show some love to Cookie's amazing art on her [twitter](https://twitter.com/fantasywalking) ! 
> 
> If you need something tagged please feel free to let me know! 
> 
> Commenting can be hard and requires a lot of energy - emojis, emoticons, lil hearts - mean so much to me and are all 100% considered a valid comment that will bring joy to my smol gay heart, thank u
> 
> Come say hi!  
> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/AlNiCa_)  
> [Pillowfort](https://pillowfort.social/alnica)


	8. Knives

“RUNNNNNN!!!!!!!!”

The rocks fell, the dust cleared, a bunch of people with sharps spears started chasing after Lance and Hunk. 

Lance continued a long strew of curses as he bounded and leaped over every rock in his path. Hunk wasn’t fairing much better but no one was stopping as they continue to run for their lives. 

Lance was trying to figure out what the people were yelling at them even though he could tell nothing was being said in any of the various languages he studied for emergency situations like this.

He guided them both into a small tunnel that opened up into a large forest. A forest. A FOREST?! They exchanged bewildered looks and gave themselves about 4 seconds to admire the greenery before they took off to hide literally anywhere that might cover a 6’1”, 290 pound man with a bright yellow shirt on. 

Lance tripped as he turned another corner, Hunk accidentally fell over him. Hunk was absolutely yelling at the worst time possible. 

Okay, think Lance, think.

He scanned their surroundings as they got up and noticed another small cave nestled around a couple of trees. He reached for his laser gun the Garrison reluctantly handed over before they left. 

“Well, might as well have our backs covered. Come on Hunk!!”

He took off and heard behind him, “I knew we were too lucky when we made it out before without getting ambushed.”

Lance rolled his eyes, “No time for that. Survive now, get annoyed later.”

*

_ “Fuck.” _

Keith groaned as he sat up. There was no way his tail bone wasn’t bruised. There was definitely blood coming from some place in his body, maybe his nose judging by how wet the lower part of his face felt. He looked around and found his backpack crushed under a giant boulder. Good thing he didn’t bring anything valuable with him. 

He grunted his way to standing and limped over to get his flashlight out of the part of his bag that was thankfully not crushed by the falling rocks. 

This time he had to use the wall to straighten himself out but once he did, he flicked on the light to assess his surroundings. Keith was ready to conclude that he somehow got separated from everyone in the group before he heard a soft sniff around the corner. 

As fast as he could, he rounded the tunnel to find Allura laid out-face first into the dirt floor. He limped over and kneeled down to see how injured she was. There was a small cut on her shoulder where her shirt was ripped open. Once he got her turned over he saw that there wasn’t too much external damage. 

She coughed and tried to sit up, “Woah hey, slow down. You’re okay, try and relax.”

She looked up, “...Keith?”

“Yeah. We’re safe, for now at least. I think we’re separated from the others.” 

She slowly sat up with his assistance now, “Well, isn’t that just wonderful.”

He huffed, “I know. It sucks but we’ll figure a way out.”

It took 20 minutes but he finally got Allura up and walking around. He thought he had taken most of the damage but judging by the large bruise forming at her hairline and how hard it was for her eyes to concentrate on him, she most likely had a concussion, which was a lot more worrisome than the broken rib he was dealing with. They took a drink of water to clean the dirt out of their mouth and decided that if they’re stuck they might as well try and look for the moldavite. 

Keith trailed behind as Allura attempted to reactivate her locator spell. He kept his flashlight pointed ahead even though Allura “didn’t need it,” she had plenty of light with the locator spell. Keith rolled his eyes at that, seeing right through her tough act. Not like he would behave any differently if the roles were reversed. 

As they slowly stumbled through the partially collapsed section of cave, trying hard not to breathe in all of the dust particles now swimming through the air, Allura’s spell continued to flicker, showing how difficult of a time she was truly having. Before the collapse, it gave off a surplus amount of blue energy but as they walked it wasn’t more than a small flame dancing in the palm of her hand. 

Keith could hear her heavy breathing as they stumbled along, but she refused to sit down and relax, no matter how many smaller channels they ended up having to crawl through. 

They stumbled out of the most recent narrow passage as the light in Allura’s hand began to pulse, a deep sigh of relief coming from them both at the signal they’ve finally found some of what they were looking for. 

He heard Allura gasp, quickly looking up to see the ethereal glow coming off in beams of light on the walls surrounding them. There was no way this deep into the cave there were any sources of light, which meant there could only be one explanation.

“Magic. This cave is protected by magic.”

Keith watched as Allura stepped further in, “Why would some random cave be protected by magic?”

“I’m not sure. It must be a shield created by the Earth itself, there’s no way any spell created millennia ago would still be active.”

Keith nodded and went to look around himself. The ground was smooth, with no dust to be seen. The rocks almost looked wet with how shiny they were. He pulled out his flashlight when he saw a small sliver of green out of the corner of his eye.

“Hey Allura, come check this out.”

He bent down to get a better look at the spot in the wall that was housing a chunk of stone they were looking for.

“Oh yes, that’s exactly what we’re looking for. Let me go get my hammer.”

“No worries, I got it.”

Keith pulled out his knife from his boot, intending to stab away at the rock wall until it gave way for him to get the stone.

“Keith.”

He looked over to find her examining him in the weirdest way, “Uh, yeah?”   
  
“Wh… WHERE DID YOU GET THAT?”

He looked down at the knife and back at her, “Huh?”

Allura practically pounced on Keith. Her hands softly glowed with barely contained magic. Keith groaned as his back and head connected with the hard stone wall. 

“Fuck. OW. Get what?!” he practically spat at her.   


“THE KNIFE. WHERE DID YOU GET THAT KNIFE?!” 

Her grip tightened on his biceps, pressing them further into the rocks behind him. 

“I...I- What? I got it from my dad. What the fuck Allura let me go.” 

He struggled enough for her grip to loosen and he escaped from her grasp. He quickly moved to pick up the knife and across the room from her. He thought she’d look furious judging by her response but all he saw was confusion on her face. 

“I don’t understand…” she whispered.

“ _ YOU _ don’t understand?!  _ I _ don’t understand! You can’t just shove people into walls.”

“What do you know about that knife?”

Keith raised an eyebrow, confused as he looked down at the object in his hand. He shrugged, “Not a lot. My dad said it was for me, from my mom. I never met her and I never got more info because he died when I was young.”

He looked up to see her face scrunched up, but she nodded in what seemed reluctant understanding.

“Do you know your mother’s name?”

“...no, I uh. I don’t. I only know it starts with a K.”

“May I see it?”

“After what you just did, you think I’d just hand it over?”

She took a deep breath, “You’re right. I apologize. I can explain more if I can just confirm something.” 

Keith paused for a moment, assessing his choices, but he ultimately handed over the knife. Allura gently held it as she examined the strange markings Keith hadn’t been able to decipher to this day. 

“Only two of these existed you know. Before we left Earth. They were made for two brothers, twins. This one used to reside on Mars, with us, until it went missing after our Queen’s mission to Earth.”

“....and the other?”

She looked up at him, “Was left here, with the other, to complete the ritual. It disappeared with its owner. Zarkon.”

Keith shakily held out his hand to take it back when Allura offered it, “So what does that mean now?”   


“It means that we’ve found one of our missing pieces. We’ll need that when the time comes to reverse what it’s twin did.”

*

“Can you pass me more of the mango?” Pidge asked, sprawled out on the smooth rock surrounding a freshwater pond nestled in the middle of the series of tunnels they were currently trapped under. 

Shiro reached into his bag to pick up the pouch to toss is to Pidge, “You think it’s been 4 hours yet?”

They looked up and raised their brows, “You’re not taking any more pain meds.” Shiro groaned at being caught, “Yes, I saw you take them and no, I won’t ignore the obvious pain you’re dealing with right now.”

Shiro slumped back down, trying not to pout. 

“Have you told Allura? You know she has healing capabilities right?”

He sighed, “I’d be surprised if Allura doesn’t know. They did a full body scan on me when we crashed and there was no way you’d miss the shitty muscles and deteriorating nerves.”

“Maybe.” They hummed, “Maybe when the magic and stuff are back...it can help. If it can heal the planet I’m sure it can help you. Right?”

He did his best to smile at them. He couldn’t blame Pidge for forever remaining hopeful. Their mom Colleen never gave up searching for new treatments before he left on the mission that was going to seal his fate whether they made it back or not.

He looked back out on the water’s surface that was so smooth it looked unreal, “Yeah, maybe it will.”

*

“FUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!!”

“Lance stop SCREAMING!”

“Hey, you try getting your ankle broken while trying to climb into a cave while running from a group of angry cavemen.”

Hunk rolled his eyes, “First of all, I did most of those things. Second, I offered to carry you and you said no.”   


He patted Hunk’s shoulder as he worked to brace Lance’s ankle, “I didn’t want to slow you down. I couldn’t live with myself if you died because of me.” Lance threw his hand over his forehead, always with the dramatics. 

Hunk finished the final wrap and stood up to assess their situation, “Alright. We obviously can’t go back out or they’ll find us. I still have no idea how a forest is in the middle of a system of caves but we don’t have enough time to unpack that. I say I give you a piggy-back ride and we start marching through that tunnel and try and find the others.”

Lance looked up at him, looked at the opening of the cave, and looked down towards the tunnel, “We don’t really have any other choice, do we?”

Hunk leaned down, scooped him up, and threw him over his back, “No. No, we do not.”

*

Keith and Allura had just finished mining all of the moldavite they would need when they heard it. It was slowly building in volume but there was no way you could mistake it for anyone else. They stood and started down the tunnel that lead towards Lance yelling from his place thrown over Hunk’s back. 

“Oh thank god! I thought we were going to die here in this cave.”

“Lance, why’s Hunk carrying you?” Keith asked from where he was still crouched on the ground. 

“He broke his ankle, we were being chased, this was faster.” Hunk heaved out in several breathes. 

“Running from what?”

“Not important. We’ll explain later. Did you find what we need?” Hunk said as he put Lance down to rest for a moment. 

“We did, and a little extra just in case.”

Keith looked down the tunnel where the two had just come from, “Are Shiro and Pidge not with you?”

“No, they got separated too.” 

Allura nodded and picked up her bag, “I have enough energy to start a new spell to lead us out, hopefully we find them along the way.”

Keith looked at her confused, “What do you mean, hopefully?”

“I need to get back to the ship and recharge. Either we all get out or we have to stay here for longer and risk another Earthquake trapping us in forever.”

“We’re not leaving Shiro,” Keith snapped.

Hunk gently grabbed his arm, “No one’s leaving anyone, but if any of us are going to make it out we need to let Allura rest.”

Keith aggressively tore his arm out from Hunk’s grasp, “No. You all can go back but I’m not leaving here without Shiro.”

“Keith, stop being a stubborn ass.” 

“Fuck you, La….”

The floor below them began to shake before Keith could finish that sentence. 

Fuck. 

_ Fuck. _

“EARTHQUAKE!!” 

Hunk threw Lance back over his shoulder as Allura chanted the quickest spell of her life, and then they were on the run. The entire cave began to shake, the sound of falling rocks behind them as they sprinted down the windings halls. Right before the entrance collapsed completely, they threw themselves out and rolled to a stop on the familiar barren dirt they were used to. 

Hunk rolled off of Lance as they all laid there, trying to catch their breath. Only perking up when they heard footsteps approaching. 

Keith looked up to see Shiro and Pidge running towards them, concern on both of their faces.

“Shit, are you guys okay?” Shiro asked as he bent down to help Keith up. 

“That was fucking awful. We were attacked by angry cavemen. I broke my ankle. How was your time in the cave?”

Shiro looked at Pidge before quietly laughing, “Oh yeah, it was bad too. Awful time.”

Keith gave him a knowing look at the group went on ahead to the ship. Shiro smiled and whispered, “We found a pond and took a nap.”

Keith laughed as Shiro threw Keith’s arm around his shoulder to support his walk down, “Of course you did.”

Once they got back to the ship Allura made the call to her people to let them know that they had successfully collected everything they’d need to complete the ritual and to plan when and where they were meeting. 

A woman who looked so similar to Allura discussed in detail how they’d need to set everything up as the group stood around the screen. Allura was about to hang up, plans confirmed when the ground started shaking again. 

“Nowhere in history has there ever been this many Earthquakes in this region,” Pidge yelled from where they bolted to secure some of their more precious cargo. 

Matt furiously typed on his command screen to pull up weather maps around the region, then the hemisphere, then the world. The group gasped at what they saw. 

Three typhoons, eighteen Earthquakes, sand storms and tornadoes in almost every continent. 

“Oh no...this is. This is not good,” Matt practically whispered. 

Shiro looked at Allura and then the woman on the screen, “What does this mean for our plans?”

The woman solemnly responded, “It means our timeline just got exponentially shorter.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Please remember to show some love to Cookie's amazing art on her [twitter](https://twitter.com/fantasywalking) ! 
> 
> If you need something tagged please feel free to let me know! 
> 
> Commenting can be hard and requires a lot of energy - emojis, emoticons, lil hearts - mean so much to me and are all 100% considered a valid comment that will bring joy to my smol gay heart, thank u
> 
> Come say hi!  
> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/AlNiCa_)  
> [Pillowfort](https://pillowfort.social/alnica)


	9. Blood

Shiro and Hunk grabbed the last of their supplies off the ship and made their way to the small camp that had been established the night before in the desert located just outside of the Garrison. 

Before all hell broke loose, Allura’s people agreed that as long as they had access to the Earth and sky then the location would work, thus deciding on using the grounds of the Garrison in case of critical supplies needed afterward. 

Whatever  _ that  _ meant. 

They rejoined the crew currently huddled in by the small fire burning in the center of their set up, Shiro unconsciously gravitating to Keith’s side as he sat down and rub his ankle where it was progressively getting sore. 

He tried to remain positive. He thought of the new prosthetic Allura’s people were bringing with them as a gift for helping save the planet (and causing their ship to crash). He thought of taking a small vacation with Keith after this all was done. Helping him rebuild his childhood home like he always dreamed of. Getting a dog.

Shiro tried not to think about the possibility of telling Keith his feelings. A possibility of a future with him. He knew his time was quickly running out since deciding to join the Mars mission, but he could at least make every second count with his best friend and hope that one day Keith would find someone to love. 

And, maybe… 

He was pulled back into the conversation by Keith brushing his hand where it was massaging his knee. He was motioning for him to listen, showed that Shiro wasn’t being as slick as he thought he was by how concerned his face was. 

Shiro shrugged and focused back into what was being discussed, “They’ll be here in 2 hours. We can start preparations soon.” Allura continued to delegate tasks as she swiped through her datapad. Assigning things to everyone besides him and Keith, that is. 

Keith noticed this first, “And what are Shiro and I supposed to do?”

She sighed, “Rest. Just rest for now. The ritual will take a lot of your energy.”

Keith snapped. He stood up and practically hurled his body towards Allura, “The ritual this. The ritual that. Magic, magic, and more fucking magic.” Keith waved his hands in the air in a cruel attempt to mimic Allura’s spell casting. “Why don’t you just tell us what the fuck is going to happen so we can actually prepare!” 

“I told you, I only know so much.”

“This is bullshit.” Keith shouted he marched closer to Allura. Hunk, Lance, and Pidge began to nervously stand up and back away from the circle. A poor attempt at sneaking away from the chaos that was quickly escalating. 

“The world is collapsing as we speak and for the past 4 weeks you’ve been preaching about how Shiro and I are the only ones who can save it but won’t fucking tell us how!” 

Keith had been trying so hard to stay patient. To work as a team to plan and prepare for such a monumental task no matter how frustrated he got at the lack of details, but all that patience was gone in an instant. 

Shiro got up and took his arm, “Keith. That’s enough.”   


He could feel Keith’s pulse was racing as he grabbed a better grip on his arm. As much as Keith was deemed the loose cannon of the group, Shiro had rarely seen his friend this panicked of the unknown. 

Shiro tried to comfort him as best he could. Shiro may have felt that this wasn’t the time, that as much as he wanted to know what was going to happen it wasn’t Allura’s fault she didn’t know, but Keith didn't have the luxury of time to cope with what was happening to him. All the pain and confusion and frustration Shiro felt while still on Mars had been building up in Keith all throughout their journey and it was finally bubbling over.

He carefully placed his hand on Keith’s back, slowly rubbing some of the tension out as Keith worked to calm himself down. Eventually, Keith unclenched his fists and his breathing started to even out, but he wouldn’t take his piercing gaze off of Allura.

“Why us?”

She looked him in the eye as she responded, “You know why.”

“No. I don’t.” Keith exhaled. The fight drained out of him as quickly as is built up. His breath was still coming out shaky and his hand was now clenched around Shiro’s, but he felt relieved knowing Keith was finally coming back to himself.

“You do, Keith. You’ve known since the moment I told everyone what was happening. Why it was happening. Since the moment you jumped in the water. Which is why you and Shiro need to rest.”

She calmly collected her things and walked back into her tent without another word. So did the others, leaving Keith and Shiro alone with the fire. 

Shiro could see Keith’s hands fidgeting as he tried to stuff them into his pockets, an obvious line of tension in the hunch of his shoulders; his heart broke when he noticed that Keith was on the verge of tears. Either due to frustration or fear, Shiro wasn’t sure. All he knew was that Keith needed to get away. And that they needed to get on the same page before everything began.

Shiro took Keith’s hand and gently pulled him in the direction of the hoverbike the Garrison lent them, “Come on. We should talk.”

*

They drove only a couple hundred yards out of camp, not wanting to leave too much distance between them in case something happened, but enough room to feel like they were alone. 

It was in the air. Between them. In the desert. All around. It was suffocating how on edge they both were, still refusing to acknowledge what they both already figured out. 

They just weren’t entirely sure why. 

“We need to talk about it.”

Keith huffed, “...fine.”

Shiro sighed, taking it as permission enough to broach the subject they’d both been long avoiding, “When did you figure it out?” 

He watched Keith kick a rock as he asked, pacing around their small area of desert as Shiro leaned his body on the hoverbike. 

“I guess...I guess when Allura told us all the prophecy and said we were both involved. Logically there was no explanation for us to both be a part of it and for us not to be...to uh, be. And then the waterfall. What… what Allura said after. I just. I didn’t want to believe it.”

He crossed his arms and turned his back to Shiro. Keith always had a tough relationship with love, whether it was romantic or not. Shiro knew about his past, how he’d been orphaned by an unfortunate accident, never knew his mom, and kicked out of his first foster home for being gay. 

He told Shiro one time when drunk that he never wanted to love anyone. That it wasn’t for him. All he needed was Shiro and space. 

At the time, Keith was still young, not ridiculously so, but Shiro could tell his statement wasn’t completely true as drunk Keith snuggled in closer to Shiro’s body under the night sky peeking in from Shiro’s apartment sunroof. 

But it was still part of the reason he never admit his own feelings for Keith. And now they were both faced with the reality of being fated when one wanted no part in it. 

Shiro tried to think of any way to fix this, to make Keith comfortable with the fact that they were soulmates. It hurt to see Keith not share the same feelings, but Shiro would do anything to keep what they had. 

“Maybe...maybe soulmates can be platonic.”   


Keith slowly turned around, confused by Shiro’s statement, “Do you really think that?”

He shrugged, “I don’t know. We’d have to ask Allura. But it could be a possibility?”

Shiro thought this was the best possible option, given the circumstances. He didn’t care how in love with Keith he was, it was clear by his body language that he didn’t feel the same about Shiro. And Shiro was okay with that. 

Keith’s eyebrows scrunched together, deep in thought. He was facing Shiro but continued to keep distance between them. Shiro waited, wanting to give Keith time to process. In the meantime, he felt a weight sink into the pit of his stomach, a strange hollow feeling everywhere else. The rejection slowly swallowing him whole.

He never thought… he never thought they’d ever discuss their relationship this way. He never planned on bringing it up. But god did it hurt to confirm what he already assumed. 

Keith stepped closer to him, arms still wrapped around himself, “I’m sorry…”

Confused, Shiro stepped closer to Keith, “You don’t need to be sorry for anything. This isn’t your fault.”

Keith went to turn again but Shiro grabbed his shoulder before he could, “It’s okay. I promise it’s okay.”

Keith looked up, tears forming in his eyes, “It’s not okay. This isn’t fair to you.”

“To me? I don’t understand.”

Shiro’s hand was violently pulled from Keith’s shoulder as he jerked his body away. He could hear him trying to wrestle the tears back and hide the sniffling that’s begun. 

“Because,” He reached up to pull at his hair, tug his hoodie further around himself, “Because you’re stuck with me. Of all the people in the universe, you’re stuck with  _ me _ . And. And I’m sorry. I wish there was something I could do. I thought if I just ignored it it’d go away but it’s not. This isn’t fair. I’m so-”  _ hiccup _ “-I’m so sorry.”

“Oh no, Keith. Keith, come here. Please?” Shiro gently walked up to him, trying not to startle him as he pulled him into his chest, “Keith, there’s no one else I would rather have as my soulmate. No one.” 

Keith proceeded to sob into the front of his jacket as he gently rocked him back and forth. The desert was entirely too quiet, making the sounds of Keith’s sadness amplified in Shiro’s ears. It hurt more than the rejection he thought he was getting before. 

After a while, Keith finally started to calm down, but Shiro held onto him as his slight shaking continued and his jacket became a giant tissue. 

“I’ve got you. I’ve got you.” He whispered, his cheek pressed against the top of his hairline. 

“...you want to be my soulmate?” He barely heard it, muffled into his jacket. 

“Look at me?” Keith cautiously picked his head up and peeked through his damp bangs, “I’ve never felt more alive, more happy, more… more  _ loved  _ than when I’m with you. You’re the reason I’ve been fighting so hard to save Earth. I’ve been fighting my whole life but it’s always just been to survive and you… you make me want to live, Keith.”

“I love you.”

Shiro felt the air leave his lungs as Keith said it. His hand began to shake as he pulled him in closer, resting their foreheads together, “I love you too.”

“But… but wait. I don’t mean platon-”

“I don’t either.”

Keith’s breath tickled his face as he huffed out a laugh. Shiro could feel his cheeks moving to form the sweetest smile. 

“Keith?”

He happily sighed, “Yeah?”

“I want to kiss you.” Just barely a whisper.   
  
“Okay.” Keith whispered back. 

Rain began to sprinkle from the sky heavily as their lips met in the softest embrace. Thunder cracked from miles away, the drizzle turned into a heavy downpour and they could hear Pidge trying to contact them on their radio to tell them tornadoes were getting closer. 

They only leaned in closer, Keith’s hand on his neck, guiding their lips together. They had a job to do that could determine the fate of humanity, but for five more minutes... the world could wait. 

*

The ship touched down at exactly 3:04 pm. Several tall figures descended to the desert. In the center was Krolia and Melenor, both looking at beautiful as ever. 

Keith was standing next to Shiro, hand in hand. 

The group didn’t say anything when they returned calmer and showing significantly more PDA than normal but each gave a knowing look in their direction. Allura actually seemed to let out a sigh of relief. 

Krolia approached their group, greeting Allura with a hug first then moving onto Shiro before introducing herself to the rest of the group.

Lance whispered to Hunk, “Are we supposed to bow?”

Krolia lightly laughed, “No need. I’m not that kind of Queen.”

Melenor walked up to hug Allura, “You have everything ready?”

“Yes mother, follow me.” 

The two left with Pidge, who offered to help as best they could, while Krolia stayed with the group. Her eyes continued to land on Keith as polite conversation was offered by those with her. Thace began talking with Lance, Kolivan standing off to the side not entirely interested in talking, and Krolia eventually faded away from discussions and made her way back over to where Shiro and Keith were both standing. 

“May I talk to you both for a moment?”

Shiro gave a quick squeeze to Keith’s hand, “Yeah, sure.”

They trailed behind Krolia and Shiro once again admired the grace in which she moved and kind power she radiated. 

When she got to the end of the tents she paused for a moment, looking out into the desert. Her eyes were wide, full of longing as she watched the sun in the sky and the wind as it blew the sand around.

“You’ve been here before?” Shiro asked as he came to stand next to her. 

“I have, many years ago. Not far from here is where I met my partner. I lived with him for a long time while I tried to help the planet.”

Keith’s eyebrows scrunched together, confusion on his face. Shiro could tell he wanted to ask something but couldn’t get himself to say it for fear of the answer. So Shiro asked for him.

“What’s his name?”

Krolia paused and continued to examine the horizon, the orange glow casting a warm glow on her normally cool colored face. Shiro could see a small smile start to form on her face before she turned back to them, “I brought you both out here but I want you to know how grateful I am that you’re willing to be a part of this. Allura has informed me that she’s made you aware of our lack of knowledge as to what happens after. That’s not ideal but as the Earth is showing us, we are running out of time.”

Shiro noticed the obvious change in subject. As someone who also disliked exposing too much of himself, he couldn’t help but understand her unwillingness to share more information about her past. 

She turned around and continued, “I can’t promise that you’ll both be safe. All I can promise is that I will do everything in my power to help you both get through it. Alive.”

Shiro locked eyes with Keith. The most beautiful man he’s ever laid eyes on. The only man that’s ever truly understood his heart. He tightened his hold on his hand, Keith did the same in return. 

Shiro turned back to her and nodded. It was time. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Please remember to show some love to Cookie's amazing art on her [twitter](https://twitter.com/fantasywalking) ! 
> 
> If you need something tagged please feel free to let me know! 
> 
> Commenting can be hard and requires a lot of energy - emojis, emoticons, lil hearts - mean so much to me and are all 100% considered a valid comment that will bring joy to my smol gay heart, thank u
> 
> Come say hi!  
> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/AlNiCa_)  
> [Pillowfort](https://pillowfort.social/alnica)


	10. Ritual

Shiro and Keith approached the circle of crushed moldavite as the wind began to blow stronger and the sky began to darken. In the center was a bowl and Keith’s knife. 

Allura and Melenor stood on either side of the circles as they’d be guiding them through the spell. Krolia and her team, Hunk, Lance, Pidge, Matt, and Sam all stood back a fair distance as requested. 

They were asked to shower and dress in plain clothing as the spell called for a proper cleansing beforehand. They used the water from the falls, though Allura wasn’t sure it was necessary, at this point, they would rather be safe than sorry. 

Keith reached for Shiro’s hand as they walked into the circle to kneel. Surely Keith was able to feel his racing pulse where his thumb brushed his wrist. Shiro had never been so nervous about something in his life. Not when he underwent his first round of treatment. Not when he applied to Garrison. Not when he took off on any of his missions. 

This was bigger than anything he’d ever attempted and currently had the largest amount of unknown variables. The only thing keeping him from running from it all was the love of his life beside him. 

No matter what happened, if it meant creating a world where Keith could live it would be worth it. 

They kneeled facing each other, as instructed. Time seemed to slow. 

He looked into Keith’s eyes. Deep indigo. They sparkled like nothing he’d ever seen before in the sun. 

He watched his hair start to come out of the low ponytail he put it in. Soft, thick locks of hair blowing in the chilly wind. God, he was gorgeous. 

Shiro leaned in to rest his forehead against Keith’s, enjoying the comforting touch while he still could. His personality had always been fiery but his skin was always so soft and warm.

_ “I love you.”  _

_ “I love you, too.” _

They pulled back, then Keith nodded to Allura. 

Melenor stepped up, “Okay, while you recite the spell focus on your connection to each other. Let the rest of the world fall away. Now, repeat after me.”

_ The earth’s soul lives _

_ She lives through me _

_ Through the trees _

_ Through the wind and sky _

_ I ask her to grant me a piece _

_ Through sacrifice, I give in return  _

_ I give my blood _

_ I give my life  _

_ I give my soul _

They took the knife. Keith cut his palm then took Shiro’s and did the same. Drops of their blood pooled between them on the sand, the Earth immediately swallowing up their sacrifice as they continued to chant.

_ Grant me the power  _

_ Grant me all control _

_ For until it returns _

_ I will keep her safe _

*

A white flame rose twenty stories around the circle they set around Shiro and Keith. Lightning flashed all around them. Strong gusts of wind flung back the bystanders. 

It only lasted for about a minute. But that minute broke and everyone saw what had happened. 

They were gone.

*

The world began to spin as Keith regained consciousness. Well. Maybe not the world. 

Once his vision focused and he was able to properly support himself to a sitting position he could see that he was trapped in a galaxy-like realm, where the ground was solid but looked like pools of stars and the sky appeared to have an ever evolving purple nebula swirling above. 

He tried to think; the last thing he remembered was kneeling in the desert with Shiro. Allura and Melanor chanting and both of them cutting their palms. Then the circle of crushed stones around them lit up in a brilliant white flame and bam, he was here. 

He groaned as he tried to get his aching bones to support him in standing, trying to further assess where the fuck he was. And more importantly, where the fuck Shiro was. 

He stood up, almost passed out, regained his balance, and started to search. Scanning his surroundings, he saw… nothing. There was absolutely nothing around him besides the ground and sky. How could there be nothing? 

_ “Hello, Keith.” _

An icy chill crawled up his back at the whisper. It was a woman’s voice, raspy and full of pain. It wasn’t a voice he recognized, but the person somehow recognized him. 

Keith slowly turned around to see a woman about his height draped in old, torn robes covered in dirt and blood. Her hair was messily braided down her back. But what struck him the most was the vibrant yellow of her eyes, so intense it felt like she could peer into his soul. 

_ “I’ve been waiting a long time for you, Keith.” _

His voice shook when he answered, “Who are you? Where am I? How do you know my name?”

She smiled,  _ “Of course, you wouldn’t know, would you? That sweet, young oracle wouldn’t be able to see past your realm.” _

She began to walk forward, Keith slowly walked back until his back hit something. Too afraid to turn around but more worried for his life to not, he peeked over his shoulder to see he was surrounded by giant trees in a circle formation. In the middle was a set up very similar to the one they just created for their ritual. 

He looked back, and really  _ looked _ this time. There’s no way, right? Allura said they both disappeared 10,000 years ago when they fucked the entire world up. How could she still be here? How…

_ “Ah, I see you’re putting the pieces together. Sweet child.” _ She passed where he was standing and moved into the clearing,  _ “I was just as surprised as you were when I became trapped here. The demon failed to mention that in return for ridding the world of those nasty marks, I would need to stay here… permanently.” _

Keith slowly followed, careful not to get too close to the powerful sorceress, “Why permanently?”

_ “To protect the circle. Inside contains all the worlds free-flowing magic. Should any of those stones move the spell would be reversed.” _

She had her back to him now, no longer weaving through the scattered branches. Keith had a really bad feeling about his next question, but he needed to know. 

“You know I’m here to reverse it, right? Why would you give me the directions for how?”

Her disturbing laugh filled his head, circled him from all around. It felt like it was echoing all around. She slowly turned, eyes locked on his,  _ “Because I have no intention of letting you live.” _

*

Shiro slowly crawled to a kneeling position and coughed, trying to get himself breathing normally again. Keith was nowhere to be found, but across the purple horizon, there was a small outcropping of boulders. He decided with nothing else in sight walking to it was as good an idea as any.

It took him what felt like hours to finally reach the rocks, his ankles flaring with a deep, throbbing pain. He chuckled to himself, at least it’ll probably be over soon.

When he reached the rocks he tried his best to wander with the searing pain in his legs. He stumbled through, carefully grabbing anything he could to make his way around the various sized boulders in beautiful shades of purples and blues that mimicked the enchanting sky.

He called out for Keith every so often, praying to whoever that he was alive and okay back on Earth. Not here… wherever here was. 

Eventually, he assumed he started to hallucinate because he thought… no, he didn’t think, he  _ heard _ whistling coming from across a small valley of stones. 

He picked up his pace as much as he could as he crossed the rocky terrain to find the source of the noise. He felt hope for the first time in an eternity. 

Practically falling towards the whistling in his haste, he started to call for whoever was making the noise. 

“Hello?”

The whistler carried on.

“Hello? Who’s over there? Keith?”

He finally reached the top and climbed over. To say he was disappointed when he looked up was an understatement. It wasn’t Keith. He saw an enormous man in soft, tattered clothing huddled over a small fire on the edge of a forest. His long purple hair was swept into a low ponytail, staying out of his face as he concentrated on the small bowl of food that was being cooked on the sparse fire keeping him warm. 

“Uh… hello?”

The man looked up and Shiro locked eyes with bright yellow sclera surrounding pitch black iris. It was odd, but the man’s eyes weren’t frightening but kind, tired. 

“If you’re here, that must mean it’s almost time.”

Shiro stumbled, confused at what the heck that meant.

“Come here, Shiro. Sit with me for a bit.”

The man waited patiently for him to decide what he wanted to do, but after practically crawling through a galactic expanse of desert he didn’t have any better offers. 

He sat and watched the man finish cooking his small bowl of soup. The man sniffed a spoonful, deemed it done, and offered Shiro some before he started. 

“You must be confused.”

Shiro scratched the back of his neck as he looked around and back, “Uh, yeah. A bit.”

The man sighed, showing his exhaustion in his age, “Understandable. My name is Zarkon. I’m sure the Alteans and Marmorans have told you about what I’ve done.”

Zarkon took a spoonful of soup to give time for Shiro to process that, “You mean…”

“Yes, all of this is partially my fault. Of course, Honvera was always the better sorcerous.”

“I’m confused.”

“What about? Where you are? Why you’re here? How to get out?” Zarkon raised an eyebrow.

“Well, all of that but… you. You seem so, different than what I’ve been told. You’re so… calm?”

Zarkon softly laughed, “A lot can happen when you’re trapped somewhere for 10,000 years. But what they say about me is true. I was a violent, destructive man. I killed… gods, I killed so many. I was so, so cruel.”

“Is that why you helped Honerva?”

“Not necessarily, it’s connected. You see, I met my soulmate. A woman named Char. She was from another coven and we immediately fell in love. I tried to stop fighting for her, stop the war in me, but I couldn’t contain it. I accidentally killed her entire family, set her house on fire in a fit of rage. She rejected me because of it, so I burned down her entire village with one snap of my fingers.”

Shiro gasped, suddenly feeling anxious sitting next to a man so powerful.

“That’s when Honerva found me. She’d always been different, eventually banished from her coven because of it. She, too, was rejected and told me she’d found a way to get rid of it all. Payback for how it’d ruined our lives.”

He got up and poured the rest of the soup in the fire. Shiro looked up at Zarkon as he stared into the flames, “It took me a long time but I understand how wrong I was to do what I did. And how I’m trapped in this hellscape because of it. It’s a fitting prison at least.”

Shiro saw the pain in his face as he said it, so drastically different from the man so many from Mars have told him about in the past couple of months.

“I’m sorry.”

“No,” he snapped. Shiro was caught off guard by the sudden outburst from the seemingly gentle man. He had to catch himself from falling off his stool. “I am not worth your comfort. Not with my sins. I am not worthy of redemption. The only thing I can do now is to help fix what I caused before I can finally rest.”

Shiro stood up, “Okay. How do we do that?”

“Come with me."

*

Sweat dripped down Keith’s back as he continued to quietly dart through the forest. He lost Honerva a hundred yards back and was doing everything he could not to alert her to his whereabouts. 

He feels like he’s been running for hours but there’s no way he could stop. Stopping would mean death.

The moment she tried to strike him down was one of the most terrifying he’d ever experienced. Seeing a gun take down a bear is one thing. A knife cut through someone’s neck? Another. Seeing pure evil pulse through the veins and out the orifices of the woman who single handedly started the ultimate destruction of the planet? Completely different.

And through all this time trying to survive, he still has no idea where the hell Shiro is.

His legs kept him in motion as he wove himself through the various limbs of trees poking out into the small openings he was able to get through. He found a path at one point but knew that taking it was basically asking for Honerva to find him.

Eventually, he came to a small clearing, different than the one before as this one had a patchwork tent and scattered twigs that must’ve once held a campfire. Not surprising, if he’s exhausted now that meant Honerva must have to sleep sometime. He slowly crept into the overgrown grassy area and near the tent, trying to see if any sort of weapon could’ve been left behind. 

Keith found a blanket, a small clay pot and mug, some more rags hanging from a clothesline, and… there’s something shiny poking out from underneath the blanket. He crawled in, peeled back the cover to see what it was. 

He gasped. 

The sheath wasn’t quite like his. It was in much worse condition, but the blade was still much intact and incredibly sharp. He picked up his blade’s twin to examine it. 

That’s when he heard the scream. One he’d recognize anywhere.

He ran.

*

Shiro followed Zarkon to the clearing where the circle containing the magic was still preserved. Zarkon remained quiet the entire journey, though Shiro noticed the slight limp in his right leg. He never commented, understanding the frustration of having to explain every time someone asks about a disability.

The ground around them was the same dark purple of the sky, but littered with blue toned grass and various lilac and pink flowers throughout. In the center, as promised, was a very similar set up as the one in the desert. 

Laid out was a half-hazardly packed line of moldavite circled around a glowing entity seemingly encased in an invisible dome about Shiro’s height. In the center were two large drops of blood floating around each other.

The two of them slowly approached the circle. The plan was for Shiro to remove one of the stones while Zarkon kept watch. Once the containment circle was broken, the magic would be able to escape and slowly return to the human plane. 

Zarkon looked at him, nodded his head to tell him to keep going. The tall man started to scan their surroundings as Shiro got near. 

Shiro took a deep breath and went to bend down to take a crystal. All throughout, in the back of his mind, he couldn’t help but think this was easy. Too easy… 

He heard Zarkon yell behind him. He whipped his head up to see a small, skinny woman in long, dirty robes blast daggers of magical energy at Zarkon. 

He watched Zarkon hold up his bad arm to cover his face from the attack. He had a broadsword in the other that’d be useless unless he could get around her. 

Shiro looked around his surroundings. There had to be something he can do to help. In the corner of his eye he saw a pile of normal rocks. Not very useful, but they’ll get the job done.

He ran up and grabbed one, chucking it as hard as he could at the sorceress. He smiled when he got her attention after the third throw. Her piercing gaze locked on him. It worked, his distraction worked!

She held up her hands, already powering up to blast a new wall of magic in his direction. 

Shit, his distraction worked. 

He didn’t necessarily plan what he’d do after he distracted her so he runs. She chased, more like flew after him as he sprinted towards the edge of the clearing. He almost made it too, but his legs gave out from under him. Too weak to continue with the amount of muscle damage he’d already accumulated. 

“Fuck.”

Shiro tried to pick himself up as he felt the warmth of her magic get closer to him. 

_ It’s okay _ , he told himself,  _ Zarkon will get it done. It’s okay. Maybe this’ll save Keith. _

Shiro closed his eyes, waiting for the blast, when a small figure came darting out of the woods, jumped over him, and went on the offense against Honverva.

There’s only one person he knew bold enough to make that kind of move.

“ _ Keith _ .”

He saw the knife cut through the air as Keith charged. Honvera quickly moved on the defense against the unexpected attack. Her magic reached forward to grab at him but Keith was able to move before it reached him. 

Shiro watched in horror, unable to move as his soulmate fought against the most powerful woman in the universe. Of course, there was no fear on Keith’s face, but Shiro’s heart held enough for both of them. 

He got himself into a kneeling position as Zarkon finally got back up and began to make his way over to where the fight was taking place. 

Shiro could see Keith eyeing him warily as Zarkon, not waiting to explain himself, charged in. That he was seemingly against Honerva was good enough for Keith at the moment. 

Their blades took turns striking at Honerva as she continued her onslaught of magical daggers flying through the air. The two men tried their best to block but one came too close and caught Keith’s cheek, thankfully missing his neck.

Shiro heard Keith cry out. Keith lowered his weapon for a second, a second too long. 

Honvera took his moment of weakness to attack full strength, but before it could reach him the small daggers penetrated a solid wall of flesh. 

They all gasped. 

Zarkon fell. Sharp chips of magic stuck out all over his body. Blood poured from his mouth as they all heard the loud thump as he collided with the ground. 

Shiro could swear he could’ve heard a pin drop. Everyone stood quiet as Zarkon, the cruelest man to ever walk the Earth, finally fell, millennia after everything he’d done. 

Honvera looked up, her anger renewed. Shiro watched as their fight continued. This time he knew he had no choice, he had to get to the crystals no matter what. 

He slowly pulled himself through the navy blue dirt as crashes and curses continued on in the background behind him. He heard Keith scream. He couldn’t stop. 

The pain was radiating all over his body now. This wasn’t the time for his body to give up. He needed to do just one more thing.  _ One more thing. _ Then he could rest. 

He was almost there now, the crystals in sight. He reached out and heard Keith scream once more. 

Shiro looked up to see his soulmate pinned on the ground. The magic pressing on his body, breaking his ribs. Shiro saw the pain in Keith’s eyes as she tried to tear his body apart.

They locked eyes. Shiro could feel tears start to fall. 

“ _ Do it _ ,” He could see Keith mouth to him, “ _ Please. Do it. _ ”

Shiro nodded. 

There was one stone, duller than the rest. Smaller, smoother. With everything he had left inside him he reached out and grabbed it. 

Everything was engulfed in white flames. 

*

There was a sharp ringing in Keith’s ears as he regained consciousness. He struggled to breathe. Taking in all the oxygen he could, as fast as he could. 

The desert sky swirled around him. He heard voices. He doesn’t know who. 

_ What’s going on? _ He tried to ask.  _ Where’s Shiro? _

No one heard him. 

He couldn’t move his body but he could move his head. He searched. 

_ Where’s Shiro? _

So much commotion around him. 

_ Where’s Shiro? Has anyone seen Shiro? _

Krolia came into his vision, tears streaming down her face. 

_ You did it _ , she said,  _ you saved us all _ . 

She lifted him up so he can lean against her. His head was cradled on her chest as someone came to check his pulse and heart. He was being rocked. Krolia was rocking him. 

He looked up, noticed a man on the ground. He looked familiar. So many people surrounded him. They hooked him up to a machine. Electrocuted his heart. The man didn’t breath. 

Keith can’t see. His vision was too blurry. He grabbed Krolia’s wrist.

_ Where’s Shiro? _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Please remember to show some love to Cookie's amazing art on her [twitter](https://twitter.com/fantasywalking) ! 
> 
> If you need something tagged please feel free to let me know! 
> 
> Commenting can be hard and requires a lot of energy - emojis, emoticons, lil hearts - mean so much to me and are all 100% considered a valid comment that will bring joy to my smol gay heart, thank u
> 
> Come say hi!  
> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/AlNiCa_)  
> [Pillowfort](https://pillowfort.social/alnica)


	11. Epilogue

It had been 63 days since magic was brought back to Earth. The ritual was a success. Trees were growing strong, flowers were blooming, crops were beginning to cultivate again, and slowly but surely dried-out bodies of water were showing the beginnings of resurgence. Kolivan had taken over helping the Garrison lead research missions around the world and their hypothesis that it would take about 70 years for a full recovery wasn’t a shock to anyone - but the fact that there would be a recovery at all made the wait seem not as bad. 

Those on Mars were in the process of migrating back to Earth. It was going slow, but that was due to a lot of Alteans and Marmorans not entirely trusting that Earth was once again safe and welcoming towards their kind. Luckily, their Queen was working to encourage them all to at least try. There was still 40% of their population to move but there was no rush. 

Allura had decided to stay instead of return to regroup with her people. She became a representative of her kind in the newly redeveloped UN. Keith agreed with everyone that there was no better person for the job; she was good at keeping the peace while also putting people in their place. 

Pidge, Lance, and Hunk were promoted at the Garrison and given key roles in helping more devastated parts of the planet get resources they needed quickly. For all of Lance’s annoying quirks, Keith had to admit that he was pretty damn good at what he was doing.

As for Keith?

He was currently on the roof of his dad’s old shack nailing down new shingles to keep the rain out at night, in the desert that soon seemed like it wasn’t going to be a desert. 

He’d been working hard on rebuilding his dad’s place since he was released when he wasn’t called in to help with something. Either fly a ship here, help unpack there. The only real reason he got excited to come into town was to see his mom.

After he recovered, she patiently sat him down and explained everything. Why she was here, why she left, why she never came back. It hurt, but he understood. She couldn’t mess with destiny. 

They tried to call each other at least once a day now if they couldn’t see each other. Krolia always worried she might annoy him but talking to her, his mom, became one of the highlights of his evenings.

Besides to see her, he tried to stay out of the way. He wasn’t interested in being a leader or the center of attention before and he sure as hell wasn’t interested now. 

Life was slowly going back to normal. Besides the fact that he may be drinking more than he should, and that he’d been purposefully avoiding any unnecessary human interaction (especially with his friends).

The thing is - it hadn’t just been 63 days since they successfully saved the world. It’d also been 63 days since Shiro hadn’t woken up. 

Allura had said that with the resurgence of magic that the Earth will heal their bodies as a show of thanks. She said she saw it in a vision while they were in the astral plane. No one accounted for Shiro’s illness making his body too weak to accept the magic. 

When they left the magical realm where they defeated Honerva they were supposed to be plopped back into their bodies and live happily ever after. But Shiro’s body had already given up. 

Everyday Keith tried to write down a positive that’s come out of Shiro’s sacrifice. They slowly went from big picture, superhero-esque accomplishments to little things that were more personal to Keith exclusively - like he’d gotten to hug his mother and learn all about his family, most of which were still alive. He’d been slowly allowing them in, but his mother said that he could take all the time he needed to get used to the idea that he had a family. 

Another positive was that Keith got a dog. He’d talked to Shiro all the time about how much he loved dogs. One time Shiro took him to the shelter so they could volunteer to help out with whatever they needed. They’d both had fallen in love with a samoyed puppy, but when Keith walked back into that same shelter a full grown malamute locked eyes with him and they’d been inseparable ever since. 

He slowly put the hammer down as he wiped the sweat from his eyebrows, watched Kosmo sprint around the house for what must’ve been his 23rd lap this hour. It was convenient he lived out so far from society because it gave Kos plenty of room to get out his excessive amount of energy.

He chuckled and then looked back to assess his handiwork of the day. Majority of the roof was repaired, most likely he’ll need two more hours tomorrow to complete it. 

Twenty minutes later he was inside washing up, taking out a bottle of whiskey he absolutely did not steal from Shiro’s storage container - now officially signed over to Keith. When they went missing on Mars that was one of the few details that made him believe they might not be gone. But now there was concrete evidence, Shiro was really gone this time.

Pouring a small glass, he quickly flicked away a stray tear that snuck out. The first couple of weeks were the worst. 

After coming back to his body he took one big breath and lost consciousness. He woke up in the hospital with everything still bandaged and a breathing tube down his throat. The nurses quickly came in to help remove it while his mom rushed over to hold his hand. She denied it, but he’s sure he felt some magic go through him as he gagged on the tube. 

Once he calmed down he finally noticed who was in the room… and who wasn’t. Kolivan was sitting on the window sill in the corner, his mom now perched on his bed brushing his bangs back from his face as the realization hit him and tears began to fall. And Shiro was gone.

His mother tried her best to be supportive but it was difficult to get to know your son for the first time while he was mourning the loss of his soulmate that he never even got the chance to really be with. 

For so long Shiro had been his best friend, his family, and someone he knew he could fall in love with but never had the guts to try. Over the last two months he’d taken care of all the paperwork he needed and then left to deal with the fact that he no longer had any chances. 

Keith took a deep breath, a large sip of his drink, and started tugging off his sweat stained shirt as he made his way to the bathroom. 

_ Shower first, _ he thought to himself, _ then wallow in perpetual sadness over losing the love of your life to save the goddamn planet. _

He caught his reflection in the mirror as he started the shower. These days he couldn’t stand to look as his mark. Boldly reminding him that no one is connected to him anymore. He sighed as he ran his hand over it. 

Allura said in passing what it was and that eventually it’ll fade. She said it shouldn’t take long, 3 weeks tops. She offered to document it for him. He declined and walked out. 

His fingers shook as he traced the lines over for what must have been the thousandth time. As much as it hurt to look at it, he was thankful it was still there.

Later the sun started to set over the horizon and sharp peaks that lined the edge of where he could see. Kosmo was laying down at the end of the porch, most likely getting covered in dirt before he jumps into Keith’s bed. Keith sat in an old rocking chair he found in the basement that used to belong to his dad. It was one of the first things he’d fixed up when he claimed the shack as his permanent residence. 

Keith was so distracted by his gentle buzz and the dipping sun that he almost missed the soft vibrations growing in volume as whatever aircraft someone was piloting got closer. 

He got up and walked to the edge of the porch to see his mom’s ship making its way to its usual landing spot about 50 meters away. 

It wasn’t necessarily uncommon for his mom to make a surprise visit but she realized how Keith’s head worked and tried her best to warn him when she was coming down. 

He watched as she descended down the ramp and walked towards him. She had an unusually cheerful look on her face, he raised his eyebrow in question but she only shook her head and came to give him a hug. 

“Didn’t know you were coming back to Earth so soon.”  
  
“I’m heading back tonight, actually.” She pulled back her hair into a low ponytail, as she locked eyes with her ship, “I just needed to drop something off quick.”

Keith nodded, “I’m glad you came to say hi then. Want something to eat?” 

Keith was running through the food options he had in his kitchenette when she shook her head, “No, thank you Keith. I’m here to drop something off for you.”

He looked up in surprise, “Oh? Okay. What is it?”

She smiled as she started back down the steps, “Stay here?”

He was confused but nodded. There was a slight breeze making its way through the desert so he stuffed his hands in his pockets as he watched his mom made her way back onto her ship. 

Five minutes later he was getting a bit worried and contemplating going after her when he saw her start descending again. 

Well, he thought it was her. 

He cocked his head as he watched someone with broader shoulders and thicker legs walk down the ramp towards him. At this point it was dark out, so it was a little harder to see. 

He took his steps down and made his way towards whoever was walking towards him. 

Three steps in a bright light on the ship began to illuminate the entire yard and Keith almost collapsed right then and there. 

His heart began to beat like crazy and while his legs were wobbly as hell he couldn’t stop himself from speeding up to get to him. 

His now all white hair blew from the wind created from the ships engines starting up. His eyes were as shiny as Keith’s, and their warmth seeped through his clothes and penetrated his soul. They were beautiful. And  _ alive _ . 

He ran towards Keith as well. The space between them wasn’t large but seemed to expand the universe because he couldn’t get to him fast enough. 

Keith collided with a warm, healthy wall of muscle that immediately enveloped him in every way. His body was reacting so strongly to everything touching him. It was like this was the first bit of water he’d had in centuries. 

He could barely see as his face was tilted up towards him and their lips collided. It was so wet from the joint tears creating waterfalls on their cheeks. He had no idea how they were even breathing with how little they separated in between the desperate kisses they shared. 

Keith thought he could die like this. With his fingers tangled in soft white locks, his face drenched, his mouth smothered in love, and his mark pulsing with more intensity than he’s ever felt in his entire life. 

They pulled back to breathe, to touch, to see. He was pulled in and could only hear a chorus of I love you’s being chanted like a prayer into his ear. 

He could die. He could die and be happy finally having the one thing he’d ever wanted. The one man who could ever make him feel alive in a way his beating heart could never. 

The one man he loved the most. His soulmate.

_ “Shiro.” _

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Please remember to show some love to Cookie's amazing art on her [twitter](https://twitter.com/fantasywalking) ! 
> 
> If you need something tagged please feel free to let me know! 
> 
> Commenting can be hard and requires a lot of energy - emojis, emoticons, lil hearts - mean so much to me and are all 100% considered a valid comment that will bring joy to my smol gay heart, thank u
> 
> Come say hi!  
> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/AlNiCa_)  
> [Pillowfort](https://pillowfort.social/alnica)


End file.
